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Tennessee football: Petition up to save Vols legend Robert Neyland’s house

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
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Legendary Volunteers head coach Robert Neyland’s house could be torn down. There’s a petition up to save the Tennessee football icon’s home.

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Back in January, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that the University of Tennessee had approved a plan to tear down the first home Gen. Robert Neyland had lived in when he became Tennessee football’s head coach.

The house, located at 2111 Terrace Ave., was also the home of artist Russell Briscoe. You can see photos of it by clicking on the link above. Neyland specifically lived there when he first put the Vols on the national map in the lat 1920s, as they went undefeated in 1927, 1928 and 1929.

The university purchased the house in 1965 and is now planning to tear it down. In response, a petition came up on Change.org to save it. The petition calls for donations to turn the home into a General Neyland museum.

Honestly, this is one of the best ideas out there. The university tearing down Neyland’s home is the equivalent of the Federal Government agreeing to tear down Mount Vernon. There’s too much history with the house, and it makes no sense.

Tennessee football’s entire history is rooted in what Neyland built. There is a statue of him out in front of the stadium, which is named after him. He is the reason for the program being on the level it’s at.

Rather than tear it down at a cost of $38,000, why not restore it and make it a museum that people can visit on weekend trips to Knoxville? Neyland has incredible history on Rocky Top and has a case for being the greatest coach in the history of the SEC, yes, even above Nick Saban and Bear Bryant.

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Simply put, there is too much history to tear down such an important home. If the state of Tennessee is going to become obsessed with preserving statues to people who fought a losing battle in a war, why not preserve the home of a Tennessee figure who actually won at his job?

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