Top 10 Tennessee Vols legends not born in the state

Before the Chris Lofton days, the peak of Tennessee basketball was widely attributed to the Ray Mears days. Like Doug Dickey, Mears arrived with no connections ever to the state of Tennessee. In fact, his bloodline was pure Ohio.

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After all, he was from Dover, Ohio, he attended Miami of Ohio, and he coached at Wittenberg, a school in Ohio, before coming to Tennessee. But like Dickey, this non-Tennessee figure embraced everything related to the Tennessee Vols and established his own traditions.

For instance, Mears coined the term Big Orange Country and helped make Rocky Top the de facto fight song. He wore the orange jacket, and he became an intimidating presence to opposing coaches in the SEC. It turned Tennessee basketball into an incredibly exciting brand.

Oh, and Mears won. Like Dickey, he restored Tennessee basketball to a national brand. However, there wasn’t as much to restore.

Still, in 15 years, Mears went 278-112 in Knoxville and won three SEC Championships. His peak years were his final two, in which he dominated the SEC with the Bernie and Ernie show. Turning Tennessee basketball into a brand makes Mears a legend on his own.

He had to retire earlier than he probably wanted to due to health reasons. But that did not diminish his legendary status in Knoxville. Don DeVoe carried what Mears built for years before the program began to fall off in the 1980s. But many of the things he established never left the program and are a huge part of what it is today.