Tennessee basketball: Ranking first five years of Vols coaches who lasted that long

Yearly record

1947-1948: 20-5 (10-2)

1948-1949: 19-7 (8-3)

1949-1950: 15-11 (5-6)

1950-1951: 10-13 (5-9)

1951-1952: 13-9 (7-7)

*No titles or postseason

We’re probably being unfair to Emmett Lowery. When he took over as Tennessee basketball’s head coach on the heels of the end of World War II, there was an NCAA Tournament and an SEC Championship to play for. With those things underway, Lowery was responsible for guiding Rocky Top into what would eventually be the modern era on the hardwood.

Despite not title, we put Lowery above M.B. Banks because it’s safe to say he was leading a program in a much more competitive environment. Both Lowery and Banks had four winning seasons and one losing season.

However, Lowery had two winning seasons in the SEC, while Banks only had one in the Southern Conference. Meanwhile, Lowery had only two losing seasons in the conference, while Banks had three, as both finished .500 once in league play. So by overall numbers, Lowery clearly had more success, and that’s why he’s ahead of Banks.

He would last 12 years with the Vols and only had three losing seasons, and his whole career on Rocky Top was very similar to what he did his first five years. Of course, with no titles or postseason, we had to knock Lowery more than we would knock Banks or W.H. Britton or the next guy on this list.