Honorable Mentions
1979 (7-5, 3-5)
It was only a two-game improvement in terms of how many games over .500 the Vols were, but this was the program’s first bowl game under Johnny Majors and their first in general since 1974. As a result, this was what Tennessee football needed at the time to show they were improving under Johnny Majors.
1942 (9-1-1), 4-1)
This was again a very modest improvement after going 8-2 in 1941. However, it was John Barnhill’s second year, and there was still no way of knowing how anybody would do as Robert Neyland’s replacement. Going 9-1-1 and finishing ranked No. 7 with a Sugar Bowl win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane was able to alleviate that concern.
1978 (5-5-1, 3-3)
This was actually a disappointing year, but before 1979, Johnny Majors just had to get his team back to .500 after his disastrous 4-7 season in 1977. He was able to do that with a .500 record in 1978, just the first step in showing that the program would be slightly on the rise as he tried to rebuild it from the ashes.
1959 (5-4-1, 3-4-1)
Bowden Wyatt’s mid-1950s teams are his most famous, but he had a slight resurgence at the end of the decade. Following a 4-6 1958 season, this team finished the year with a winning record and carved its place in history with a huge 14-13 upset win at home over the No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers.
1960 (6-2-2, 3-2-2)
The year after that 5-4-1 team, Wyatt was able to have one season again in which his team finished ranked. They took another step en route to a 6-2-2 record to finish the year No. 19. Of course, he fell to 6-4 in 1961 and 4-6 in 1962, but this brief turnaround seemed to signify for a little while that he still had it.