Johnny Majors primer: Remembering a Tennessee football legend

Johnny Majors, Head Coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers stands with his team during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 10 November 1990 at the Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Notre Dame won the game 34 - 29. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Allsport/Getty Images)
Johnny Majors, Head Coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers stands with his team during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 10 November 1990 at the Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Notre Dame won the game 34 - 29. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Allsport/Getty Images)

Here are numerous features about the Tennessee football Volunteers player and coach.

In the 1950s, Johnny Majors was a star player and then an assistant coach for Tennessee football. He then spent the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s as a championship head coach for the program, becoming an iconic figure.

Majors’ accomplishments include earning All-American honors and leading the Vols to an SEC Championship in 1956 and then winning three more SEC Championships as UT’s head coach in 1985, 1989 and 1990. Simply put, he gave his all for Tennessee.

Because of that success, we have dedicated this week to remembering Majors. Each day, we’ll have one or maybe two posts specifically looking back on his success with Tennessee football as a player and coach specifically.

Vols all-time two-deep depth chart under Johnny Majors

Ranking Vols top 10 seasons with Johnny Majors

Johnny Majors’ five greatest games as a player for the Vols

Five greatest coaches who worked under Johnny Majors with Vols

Ranking Vols top 10 wins under head coach Johnny Majors

Johnny Majors may be Vols greatest legend

10 greatest Vols who played for Johnny Majors

Johnny Majors connected historic and modern Vols

Pat Dye vs. Johnny Majors: Ranking all 11 matchups

Johnny Majors, Peyton Manning proved Heisman Trophy bias

Phillip Fulmer, Jeremy Pruitt and many more honor Johnny Majors

Ranking all 11 Vols quarterbacks who started a game for Johnny Majors

Below are the links to all the stories we have on Majors. Each day, more will be added. Just click on the headline to view the story, and we’ll consistently connect you to other stories about him. Majors was a legend and deserves lots of coverage dedicated to what he did for UT. So here is all of that coverage.

Beyond Tennessee football, Majors has numerous accomplishments elsewhere. He took the Iowa State Cyclones to their first two bowl games ever, and he won a national championship as head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers with Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett in 1976, the pinnacle of his coaching career, just before he left for UT.

Even as an assistant, Majors was a winner, helping Frank Broyles and the Arkansas Razorbacks win the national championship in 1964 and even helping Paul E. Davis lead the Mississippi State Maroons (now Bulldogs) to a 7-2-2 record, No. 11 finish and Liberty Bowl win in 1963. That was MSU’s first bowl appearance in over 20 years at the time.

Simply put, Majors, was a Hall-of-Fame player and head coach. He is a legend in Pitt as well as in Knoxville and even in Ames, Iowa. But he is a Vol for Life, and this is the place to come to in order to learn about all that he did for the Tennessee football program.