Tennessee Volunteers football: Difference between revisions
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*[[Donte' Stallworth]], wide receiver for the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] |
*[[Donte' Stallworth]], wide receiver for the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] |
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*[[Fred Weary]], guard for the [[Houston Texans]] |
*[[Fred Weary]], guard for the [[Houston Texans]] |
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*[[Reggie White]], former defensive lineman for the [[Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Carolina Panthers]] |
*[[Reggie White]], former defensive lineman for the [[Philadelphia Eagles], [Green Bay Packers], and [Carolina Panthers]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 21:20, 12 January 2007
| Tennessee Volunteers Football | |
|---|---|
| File:TennesseeVolunteers 100.png | |
| First season | 1891 |
| Head coach | 15th season, 137–41 (.770) |
| Stadium | Neyland Stadium (capacity: 104,079) |
| Field surface | Grass |
| Division | East |
| All-time record | 761–316–53 (.697) |
| Bowl record | 24–22–0 (.522) |
| Claimed national titles | 4 1938, 1950, 1951, 1998 |
| Conference titles | 16 |
| Consensus All-Americans | 70 |
| Colors | Orange and White |
| Fight song | Down the Field (Official) Rocky Top (Unofficial) |
| Mascot | Smokey |
| Marching band | Pride of the Southland Band |
| Rivals | Alabama Crimson Tide Florida Gators Georgia Bulldogs Vanderbilt Commodores Kentucky Wildcats |
| Website | UTSports.com |
The Tennessee Volunteers football team plays for the University of Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference. They play their home games at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. Their last national championship was in the 1998 college football season.
Phillip Fulmer is in his 15th year (2006) as head coach of the Volunteers.
Overview
The Tennnessee Volunteers football program is one of the winningest in college football. The program ranks in the top 10 all time and trailonly Alabama in the SEC. The team boasts several All Americans as players and coaches. The program is also famous for some unique traditions, such as running through the "T."
Traditions
Smokey
Smokey is the mascot of the University of Tennessee sports teams, both men's and women's. There is a live blue tick hound mascot, Smokey IX, which leads the Vols on the field for football games. There is also a costumed mascot that appears at every Vols game, and has won several mascot championships.
Smokey was selected as the mascot for Tennessee after a student poll in 1953. A contest was held by the Pep Club that year. Their desire was to select a coon hound that was native to Tennessee. At halftime of the Mississippi State game that season, several hounds were introduced for voting. "Blue Smokey" was the last, and howled loudly when introduced. The students cheered and Smokey became the mascot. The most successful of the live dogs was Smokey VIII who saw a record of 91-22, two SEC titles and 1 National Championship.
The "T"
The "T" appears two places in Vol tradition. Coach Doug Dickey added the block letter T onto the side of the helmets in his first season in 1964. Johnny Majors modified the T to a more round look in 1977.
The Volunteers also run thorough another "T". This T is formed by the Pride of the Southland Marching Band with its base at the entrance to the Tennessee locker room in the North endzone. The team makes a left turn inside the T and runs toward their bench on the east sideline. When Coach Dickey brought this tradition to Tennessee in 1965, the Vols locker room was underneath the West stands. The Vols would run through that T and turn back to return to their sideline. The locker room change was made in 1983.
Checkerboard End Zones
Tennessee first sported the famous checkerboard design in the mid sixties. They brought the design back in 1989. This tradition was also started by Dickey in 1964, and remained until artifical turf was installed at Neyland Stadium.
The checkerboard was bordered in orange from 1989 until natural grass replaced the artifical turf in 1994. The return of natural grass brought with it the return of the green (or grass colored) border that exists today.
Orange and White
The Orange and White colors worn by the football team were selected by Charles Moore, a member of the very first football squad in 1891. They were taken from the American Daisy which grew on The Hill, the home of most of the classrooms at the university.
The Orange is distinct to the school, and has been offered by The Home Depot for sale as a paint, licensed by the university. The home games at Neyland Stadium have been described as a "Sea of Orange" due to the large number of fans wearing the school color.
The color is Spot Color PMS 151 as described by the university.[1]
Around 200 or more boats usually park outside Neyland Stadium on the Tennessee River before games. The fleet was started by former Tennessee broadcaster George Mooney who parked his boat there first in 1962. Tennessee and the University of Washington are the only schools with their football stadiums built next to major bodies of water.
Rocky Top
Rocky Top is not an official Tennessee fight song, but is the most popular in use by the Pride of the Southland Marching Band. For more info see: Rocky Top.
Volunteers
The Volunteers (or Vols as it is commonly shortened to) derive that nickname from the State of Tennessee's nickname. Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State", a nickname it earned during the War of 1812, in which volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role, especially during the Battle of New Orleans.[2]
History
The college football team representing the University of Tennessee is one of the most storied programs in the south and across the nation. The Volunteers began competing in football on November 21, 1891. On that date, a makeshift student squad competed against a similar team from Sewanee in Chattanooga, TN, losing 24-0. The sport was young at that time, but it would grow quickly. In places like Knoxville, TN, it would part of the areas identity.
Early Years
The program's first win would be recorded the following season. On October 15, 1892 The football team defeated Maryville College in Maryville, TN by the score of 25-0. Tennessee would compete their first 5 seasons without a coach. In 1899, J.A. Pierce became the first head coach of the team. The team had several coaches with short tenures until Zora G. Clevenger took over in 1911.
In 1921, Shield-Watkins field was built. The new home of the Vols was named after William S. Shields and his wife Alice Watkins Shields, the financial backers of the field. The field had bleachers that could seat 3,200 and had been used for baseball the prior year.
In 1922, the team began to wear orange jerseys for the first time. The color was inspired by the American Daisy which grew on "The Hill" on campus.
Neyland Comes to Tennessee
Robert Neyland took over as head coach in 1926. At the time, Neyland was an Army Captain and an ROTC instructor at the school. Former player Nathan Dougherty who had then become Dean of the school's engineering program and chairman of athletics made the standard clear: "Even the score with Vanderbilt."
Neyland quickly surpassed the Nashville school which had been dominating football in Tennessee. He also scored a surprise upset victory over heavily favored Alabama in 1928. Neyland captured the school's first Southern Conference title in 1927, on only his second year on the job. In 1929, Gene McEver became the football program's first ever All American. He led the nation in scoring, and his 130 points still remains as the school record.
In the 1930's, Tennessee saw many more firsts. They played in the New York City Charity Game on December 5, 1931, the program's first ever bowl game. They scored a 13-0 victory over New York University, being led by Herman Hickman. Hickman's performance in the game caught the eye of Grantland Rice, and Hickman was added to Rice's All American team. Hickman would later play professionally in New York, for football's Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1932, Tennessee joined the Southeastern Conference, setting the stage for years of new rivalries. Captain Neyland led the Vols to a 76-7-5 record from 1926 to 1934. After the 1934 season, Neyland was called into military service at Panama. This period saw the Vols rattle off win streaks of 33, 28 and 14 games.
Neyland Returns
Tennessee struggled to a losing record during Neyland's time in Panama. He returned to find a rebuilding project in 1936. In 1936 and 1937, the Vols won six games each season. However, in 1938, Neyland's Vols began one of the more impressive streaks in NCAA football history. The 1938 Tennessee Volunteers football team won the school's first National Championship and earned a trip to the Orange Bowl, the team's first major bowl. They outscored their opponets 283-16. The 1939 regular season was even more impressive. The 1939 team was the last NCAA team to hold their opponets scoreless for an entire regular season. Suprisingly, the Vols did not earn a national title that year, but did earn a trip to the famed Rose Bowl. They lost that game 14-0 to Southern Cal. The 1940 Vols put together a third consecutive undefeated regular season. That team earned a National title from two minor polls, and received the school's first bid to the Sugar Bowl, where they lost to Boston College. After the 1940 season, Neyland was again pressed into military service, this time for World War II. His succesor, John Barnhill did well in his absence, going 32-5-2 during the war years of 1941 to 1945. The Vols did not field a team in 1943 due to the war. This was the last season that the Vols missed.
Neyland's Final Years
After World War II, Neyland retired from the military. He return to Knoxville with the rank of General and led the Vols to more success. From 1946 to 1952, Neyland's Vols had a record of 54-17-4. They won conference titles in 1946 and 1951, and National titles in 1950 and 1951. The 1951 team featured Hank Lauricella, that season's Heisman Trophy runner up, and Doug Atkins, a future college football and NFL Hall of Fame performer. Neyland retired due to poor health in 1952, and took the position of athletic director. The Vols would see spotty success for some 40 years after that, but it would be the late 90's before the Tennessee program had similar winning percentages.
Post Neyland
Harvey Robinson had the tough task of replacing General Neyland, and only stuck around for two seasons. Following the 1954 season, Neyland fired Robinson and replaced him with Bowden Wyatt who had seen success at Wyoming and Arkansas. Neyland called the move "the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
Wyatt, who had been a hall of fame player for Neyland struggled at Tennessee. He won more than 6 games only twice, in 1956 and 1957. The 1956 team did win an SEC Championship, going 10-1, but Wyatt's team never returned to a bowl game after the 1957 season. Assistant Jim McDonald took over for Wyatt in 1963, going 5-5.
Before the 1962 season, on March 28, 1962, General Neyland died in New Orleans. Shields-Watkins Field was then presented with a new name: Neyland Stadium. The stadium was dedicated at the 1962 Alabama game, and by that time had expanded to 52,227 seats. Incidentally, Neyland had a hand in designing the expansion efforts for the stadium while he was athletic director. His plans were so forward looking that they were used for every expansion until 1996, when the stadium was expanded to 102,544 seats.
Dickey and his 3 "T"s
Doug Dickey who had been an assistant at Arkansas under Frank Broyles replaced McDonald. Dickey was entrusted with rebuilding the program, and his five years at the school saw considerable change. Dickey scrapped the single wing formation and replaced it with the more modern T-Formation offense. He also changed the helmets of the Vols, removing the numbers from the side and replacing them with a "T". His third change, like the change of the helmets, still remains today. Dickey worked with the Pride of the Southland Marching Band to create a unique entrance for the football squad. The band would form a block T with its stem at the locker room tunnel. The team would then run through the T and return to the sideline after the band opened the T at pregame. The entrance was modified in the 1980's when the locker room was moved to a tunnel behind the end zone, but the entrance remains and a prized tradtion of the football program.
Dickey had some success in his eight seasons as a Vol. He led Tennessee to a 46-15-4 record and captured SEC titles in 1967 and 1969. The 1967 team was awarded the National Championship by Litkenhous polling.
Following the 1969 season, Dickey left for his alma mater, the University of Florida. Though, he would later return to Tennessee as an athletic director. Dickey was replaced by Bill Battle. Battle was a 28 year old coach from Alabama, and was the youngest head coach in the country at the time that he took over. Battle won at least 10 games in his first three seasons, however he lost to Auburn each of those seasons. Therefore, he did not win a conference title, and would not do so during his time there.
Majors Moves Home
Johnny Majors won a National Championship at the University of Pittsburgh in 1976. But he decided that the job at home, at Tennessee was too good to pass up. Majors replaced Battle in 1977, on the heels of two five loss seasons. Majors struggled his first four seasons going 4-7, 5-5-1, 7-5, and 5-6. His teams saw mild success in 1981, going to the Garden State Bowl and going 8-4; and in 1983 winning the Citrus Bowl and going 9-3.
Majors' 1985 Volunteer squad was one of the most revered squads. The team won the first conference title since 1969 and earned a trip to the 1986 Sugar Bowl, where they defeated heavily favored Miami. The win kept Miami from a national title and earned the scappy '85 squad the nickname: "SugarVols."
Majors later led the Vols to a resurgance following their losing season in 1988. The 1988 Vols lost their first 6 games and went on to finish with a 5-6 record. The Vols followed that effort with back-to-back SEC titles in 1989 and 1990. The Vols played on a January 1 bowl game every season in the early 90's under Majors. However, in 1993, Majors suffered heart problems. He missed the early pary of the season. Interim coach Phillip Fulmer took over and scored upsets over Georgia and Florida. Majors returned and lost three straight conference games to Arkansas, Alabama, and South Carolina. The Alabama loss on the Third Saturday in October cut the deepest as the Vols had lost 7 in a row to the Crimson Tide. The administration decided to make a change after the regular season. Majors was forced to resign and Fulmer took over before the Hall of Fame Bowl.
Fulmer, Manning set the Stage
Phillip Fulmer got off to a good start in his first season as head coach. The Vols won 10 games and lost only two, to Florida and a Citrus Bowl loss to Penn State. Fulmer did not break the streak against Alabama that year, instead Alabama rallied late and scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion to score a 17-17 tie. Alabama later had to forfeit the game due to NCAA sanctions, but the game stood a symbol of futility in the series for the Vols.
1994 saw a down turn in the record of the Vols, but events shaped the bright future of the program. Starting quaterback Jerry Colquitt suffered a season ending knee injury in the first series of the season against UCLA. Backup Todd Helton suffered a similar fate in the fourth game of the year at Mississippi State. The following week freshman quaterback Peyton Manning would take over. Manning would be a 4-year started for the Vols, and he led them to an 8-4 record in 1994. The next season, Manning led the Vols to a 41-14 win over Alabama, breaking the long winless streak. The only loss of the 1995 season was a 62-37 beating at the hands of Florida. The loss to the Gators was the 3rd in a row, and would prove to be the major hurdle between the Vols and the National title.
The Vols would put together 11-1, 10-2, and 11-2 seasons in the final three seasons with Manning as quarterback. Manning entered his senior season as a solid favorite for the Heisman Trophy. The trophy would eventually be awarded to Charles Woodson of Michigan, setting off an uproar among the fans. Manning did lead the Vols to an SEC title in 1997, before losing his final game to eventual National Champion Nebraska.
A Champion and a New Era
After 3 seasons with high expectations, the Vols faced a new task. Tennessee was expected to have a slight fall off after their conference championship the previous season. They lost QB Peyton Manning, WR Marcus Nash and LB Leonard Little to the NFL. Manning was the first pick overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. They were also coming off of an embarassing 42-17 loss to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, and were in the midst of a 5 game losing streak to their rivals the Florida Gators.
However, the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers football team would prove to exceed all expectation. Led by new quaterback Tee Martin and All American linebacker Al Wilson, the Vols captured another National title and would win the first ever BCS Title game against Florida State. They finished the season 13-0, ending a remarkable run of 45-5 in 4 years. Those four seasons, the Vols were led by Fulmer, Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe and Defensive Coordinator Johnny Chavis. Cutcliffe took over at Ole Miss as a head coach following the 1998 regular season, and the Vols have yet to recapture the success of the late 1990's.
Since 1998, the Vols have failed to win a confernce and National title. They did make two more trips to the SEC Championship Game, losing both. In 2005, the team suffered its first losing season since 1988, going 5-6. Cutcliffe returned to the Vols before the 2006 season, reuniting the successful group of Fulmer, Chavis and himself. Tennessee rebounded to go 9-3 in the regular season and earned a spot in the 2007 Outback Bowl, where they lost to Penn State, 20-10.
Head football coaching record
All-time record761-315-53 as of Nov 26, 2006 [1] ChampionshipsNational Championships The number of national championships won by Tennessee is in dispute. Tennessee lists 6 national championships, though the legitimacy of a few of those championships has been called into question. The school only officially claims the 1951 and 1998 champions with signage at Neyland Stadium. The following is a list of the 6 national championships listed by the Vols. Only 4: 1938, 1950, 1951, and 1998 were recognized by major polls.
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