Tennessee football: Ranking 10 Vols coaches from other Power Five schools

M.B. Banks was a transition coach for Tennessee football. The Vols had been in transition early on in the 1920s, as they enjoyed incredible success in the 1910s before World War I stopped their momentum. Banks took over a program still doing well, though.

Before arriving in Knoxville, Banks had a reputation as a three-sport athlete, playing baseball, basketball and football, with Syracuse from 1905 to 1909. He then was a head coach for the Centre Colonels, Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops, Ohio Bobcats, and Drake Bulldogs before heading to Knoxville with a career record of 53-37-5.

He never won a conference championship on Rocky Top, but Banks’s first two teams went 6-2-1 and 8-2. His final three teams went 5-4-1, 3-5 and 5-2-1. Also, his tenure oversaw the establishment of orange as a school color.

Upon leaving to coach high school a year later, Banks had the most wins at the time of any UT coach in history. He led the Hartwick Hawks in the 1940s. Similar to coaches at the time, he coached baseball and basketball at Tennessee as well. But his football success was pretty solid. He kept the program in good position to eventually take off under future leadership.