Tennessee football’s 10 coaches who inherited biggest mess

The first head coach to give Tennessee football any taste of major success was Zora G. Clevenger. He coached them to their first win over the Vanderbilt Commodores, their first conference championship and their second undefeated season when he went 9-0 in 1914. However, up to that point, he had a major rebuilding project.

We mentioned that Butch Jones inherited a Vols program that had suffered three straight losing seasons for the first time since 1909 through 1911. Well, two of those seasons happened just as Clevenger was taking over the program, and 1909 may be their worst season ever, as they went 1-6-2 that year. The 1910s remains the worst decade for the school history.

Because of all those issues, the Vols suffered to a 3-4-2 record under Clevenger in 1911, and they only improved to 4-4 in 1912. Vanderbilt and the Sewanee Tigers were the dominant teams in the state, and Clevenger would be tasked with somehow putting UT on their level.

Well, the rebuilding project was brutal, but through patience and a habit of winning, Clevenger would be the first guy to really start the process of turning Rocky Top into a national brand. He went 6-3-1 in 1913 before that legendary 1914 campaign, and UT had arrived then, as they would go undefeated again and win the SIAA in 1916 under John R. Bender. UT grew and grew after that.