All for Tennessee
Fansided

Barack Obama is One of the Worst Presidents Ever So Far…For Tennessee Vols Athletics

By Caleb Calhoun

Jan 12, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; President Barack Obama after delivering the State of the Union address from the House chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington. Mandatory Credit: Andrew P. Scott-USA TODAY Network
Jan 12, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; President Barack Obama after delivering the State of the Union address from the House chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington. Mandatory Credit: Andrew P. Scott-USA TODAY Network /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 17
Next
Nov 15, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view of Neyland Stadium during the first half of the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 15, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view of Neyland Stadium during the first half of the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

13. John F. Kennedy Jr., 1961-1963

No question, Tennessee athletics saw hardly any success during JFK’s tenure as president of the country. Unfortunately, had he lived and gone on to be re-elected in 1964, that would have changed and he would be a heck of a lot higher on this list. But it didn’t happen.

In fact, under Kennedy, Tennessee athletics reached historic lows in sports. Football was in a terrible state under Bowden Wyatt, struggling to return to the glory days of Robert Neyland. Wyatt took the Vols 6-4 in 1961 and then 4-6 in 1962. Jim McDonald came in for a year in 1963, and the Vols were 3-5 before Kennedy was assassinated. That’s an overall record of under .500 in football under Kennedy.

In basketball, things were also terrible. The Vols went 10-15 and 1960-1961, and they dropped to a pathetic 4-19 in 1961-1962. However, that year, the future would change as the program hired Ray Mears, and they did improve to 13-11 in 1962-1963. But Kennedy was unfortunately assassinated in 1963 and did not get to see the success Mears would lead.

Meanwhile, baseball at least had two winning seasons at 15-10 and 14-12 under George Cafego, but they went 11-15 under Bill Wright. So really, there was absolutely nothing to celebrate about Tennessee athletics under Kennedy. But as we have said with his presidency about many things, it could have been totally different had he lived.

We just have to call it like it is and say the athletics program was in terrible shape for a while and did not improve until after him.

Next: #12: Gerald Ford

Home/Tennessee Volunteers