All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: 4 best Vols coaches with losing seasons their first year

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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images /

Long before Tennessee football took off as a program, Zora G. Clevenger gave the Vols their first taste of success. They were in the SIAA at the time, and when he took over, the Vols had never beaten the Vanderbilt Commodores.

UT had suffered two straight losing seasons when Clevenger took over, and he didn’t do much better in 1911, going 3-4-2. In fact, similar to Majors, Clevenger didn’t have a winning season until his third year, as he went 4-4 in 1912.

But in 1913, he finally showed signs as the Vols went 6-3 that year. Still, they lost 7-6 to Vanderbilt because of a missed extra point and a personal foul penalty that caused an ejection and got the ‘Dores inside the red zone to set up their game winning touchdown.

It was 1914, though, that Clevenger would finally give the Vols their first legendary season. This was the first undefeated season in school history, as they went 9-0 and won their only SIAA championship. The highlight came after a 6-0 start in which nobody came within double-figures of them.

In their seventh game, UT faced Vanderbilt. And this time, they held on to win 16-14. The win was in Nashville and their first ever over the Commodores, and after beating Sewanee and the Kentucky Wildcats to close out the season, they enjoyed their first championship of any kind.

Clevenger would go 4-4 in 1915 before moving on to Kansas State. However, he had a losing season his first year and gave Tennessee football its first taste of success, forcing the program to strive to be better. And by winning a conference title outright, he’s above Johnny Majors.

Home/Vols Football