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Tennessee football’s top 10 seasons with Johnny Majors

By Caleb Calhoun

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) /
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Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images /

9. 1981 (Johnny Majors’ role: Head coach)

8-4 (3-3); W Garden State Bowl

This was the first season to finally put Tennessee football on an upward trajectory under Johnny Majors. During his first four years from 1977 to 1980, Majors only had one winning season. After going 5-6 in 1980, questions began to rise about whether or not Majors was the same coach who left the Pittsburgh Panthers. People weren’t aware of how much rebuilding the Vols needed.

Anyway, entering 1981, Majors had three different quarterbacks to work with: Steve Alatorre and Jeff Olszewski, who both started the previous year, and newcomer Alan Cockrell. The Vols were off to an awful 0-2 start, getting blown out by the Georgia Bulldogs and USC Trojans. After that, Cockrell became the starter and beat the Colorado State Rams.

However, against the Auburn Tigers and first-year head coach Pat Dye, Cockrell suffered an injury. Alatorre, who was third-string, came in and led the only touchdown drive for a 10-7 win. The next week, he became the starter, and he engineered a second straight 10-7 win to beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Under Alatorre, who was a senior, UT then went on a roll. They lost at the No. 15 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, but then they beat the Memphis State Tigers, Wichita State Shockers and Ole Miss Rebels. After an upset at the Kentucky Wildcats, they beat the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Then Alatorre led the Vols to a 28-21 Garden State Bowl win over the Wisconsin Badgers in which he was named MVP. It was the first bowl win for UT under Majors as head coach and earned them their first eight-win season.

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