Tennessee football: Ranking Vols last 10 seasons with first-year coordinator

5. 1983

9-3 (4-2)

Larry Marmie (DC) and Walt Harris (OC)

Four years after the Frank Emanuel hire and three years after the hires of Bill Pace and Bobby Jackson, Johnny Majors slowly had Tennessee football on the rise. He had directed the Vols to back to back winning seasons in 1981 and 1982.

But 1983 came, and he was left replacing his assistants again. Similar to 1977, Majors turned to people with no prior experience. But this time, as the program continued to be on the rise and had lots more NFL talent, it worked out a lot better.

The Vols had their best season yet under Majors in 1983, winning nine games for the first time despite it being seven years into his tenure. They finished the season 9-3 and only lost to the Pittsburgh Panthers, Auburn Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels. Auburn won the SEC and finished No. 3, while Pitt did go 8-3-1 and finish in the top 20.

Larry Marmie did an amazing job coaching the defense his first year in that role, holding all but four opponents to 13 points or fewer and holding six opponents to single digits. Meanwhile, Harris’s offense broke 30 six times on the year.

This was proof the program was on the rise. The two led the program in 1984 as well before Marmie left in 1985 to take the same job with the Arizona State Sun Devils, where he eventually became head coach for four years before returning back to Rocky Top.

Harris, meanwhile, stayed with the Vols through 1988 and eventually led the Pitt Panthers himself, coaching Larry Fitzgerald and winning the Big East in 2004. So he had his own bit of success. This was a great year for new hires by Majors.