FanSided 250: Tennessee Vols snubbed again in 2019

Rocky Top got no love in the FanSided 250 for the second straight year. The Tennessee Volunteers were not one of the colleges to make the list.

UT just can’t catch a break in the FanSided 250. For the second straight year, the Tennessee Vols were not among the colleges to make it on the list, despite 21 other colleges making it on, including five SEC schools. Another school to make it was the Memphis Tigers.

The list, which is in its third year, focuses on the “hottest” fan bases in a year. A fan base’s size, legacy and passion are all factors, but buzz is the most important one. Things like team success and consistently being in the news are critical to that one factor. Colleges, movies, celebrities, sports teams in different leagues, and even gamers can all qualify.

Tennessee was also left off the 2018 list. They came in at No. 18 among colleges and No. 185 overall in the 2017 list. There is no reason for the Vols to consistently be left off the FanSided 250, which used to be called the Fandom 250.

You’re talking about a fan base that actively killed a coaching hire and forced out an athletic director. To be fair, that happened in 2017, when the Vols did make the list. But after doing so, as we mentioned, they only came in at No. 18 among colleges.

That could’ve been explained if the killing of a hire, since it happened in December, would apply to the next season. But being left off that list shows that it didn’t. On the heels of that, though, coming up short in 2019 made no sense.

This is a football team that made national news for its dramatic turnaround, turning an 0-2 and 1-4 start into 7-5 with a fan base whose support never wavered. The women’s basketball team, one of the most legendary in history, made headlines by firing a head coach for the first time ever.

If those two things weren’t enough, the men’s basketball team being No. 1 for a month and sending four players to the NBA should count for something. Hey, the Kentucky Wildcats made the FanSided 250 list, and men’s basketball program took two of three from them while football continues to own them.

Simply put, there could have been room for UT on here. They shouldn’t be left off two years in a row when 21 other colleges makes the list this year and Kentucky and Memphis are among them. Rising up to kill a coaching hire alone should have bought them a decade on the list.