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

Yearly record

1962-1963: 13-11 (6-8)

1963-1964: 16-8 (9-5)

1964-1965: 20-5 (12-4)

1965-1966: 19-8 (10-6)

1966-1967: 21-7 (15-3)

• SEC Championship; NCAA Tournament

Many people may still consider Ray Mears to be the greatest coach in Tennessee basketball history. When he took over the Vols, they had just gone 10-15 and 4-19 over the final two years of John Sines’ three years on the job. He didn’t inherit the mess Rick Barnes inherited, but it was close enough that his first five years deserve to be over Barnes’ first five years.

Mears immediately orchestrated a turnaround, going 13-11 after going 4-19. Like Zora G. Clevenger, he largely improved the program each of its first five years under him, and by his third year the Vols were a 20-win team. However, he had trouble getting over the hump and finally winning the SEC to make the NCAA Tournament.

That would happen in his fifth year on the job. UT went 21-7 and 15-3 in the SEC, winning the conference and making its first ever NCAA Tournament. The Vols lost their first game to the Dayton Flyers, but making history like this still is worthy of putting Mears high on this list.

Beyond the SEC title and NCAA Tournament, Mears never had a losing season, and he had four winning seasons in the SEC. He would go on to have even greater success on Rocky Top, lasting until 1977, winning two more SEC titles and making two more NCAA Tournaments. The years of Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld would be his final years. But these first five years got it started.