Tennessee football: Checker Neyland, black jerseys, VOLS letters show Danny White listens

A huge problem with Tennessee football in recent years has been to associate gimmicks with failed tenures. The black jerseys never came back after the Vols’ win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2009 because they were tied to Lane Kiffin. Checker Neyland never came back because it was tied to Butch Jones.

Heck, alternate jerseys went by the wayside after Jones because they were tied to him. However, new athletic director Danny White is taking a new approach, a smart one. White understands that this type of buzz helps sell the university, and he is balancing it with tradition.

On Monday, White proved just how much he is listening and paying attention to all this talk when he confirmed that Checker Neyland would return Saturday night as Tennessee football hosts the Ole Miss Rebels. White revealed the news on Twitter.

This comes two days after the Vols brought back those black jerseys, finally after 12 years on the job. When White spoke to media members before the start of the season, he didn’t disparage UT tradition, but he insisted part of the program’s tradition was breaking ground and generating new buzz for recruits.

Think about why White oversaw the Vols honoring Lester McClain, Jackie Walker, Condredge Holloway and Tee Martin this year a trailblazers in the SEC. He knows it’s a selling point that the program had the first black player to score a touchdown, the first black captain, the first black starting quarterback and the first black national championship-winning quarterback in the SEC.

However, White also knows that the Vols can’t rest on its laurels, and that’s why he’s big on trying new things to keep people interested. This is what he did with the UCF Knights, which is why the program has turned into a sleeping giant.

By the way, some of White’s changes actually involve restoring tradition. He knows where to draw the line and where the Vols may have lost their way in the past. The best example is the old VOLS sign above Neyland Stadium. Before Saturday’s game, White tweeted a teaser about the return of that sign.

Of course, White’s tweet was actually of the VOLS sign from the jumbotron. What Tennessee football needs back is the original V-O-L-S letters than individually were staked above the south side of Neyland Stadium. They took them down after the 1998 national championship and need to put them back up. There’s a curse involving that sign.

Still, you can’t blame White if he got them mixed up. White’s been here for nine months and is trying to install the perfect balance after years of either complacency or mismanagement. It’s up to fans to help him figure out which traditions are important.

That is why White stands out. He is making it clear that he listens to Vol fans everywhere, and he’s doing what they want. If people tweet at him enough, he’ll bring back the Smokey Gray uniforms as well, and the Vols could rock those and the black alternate uniforms once a season each.

Not everything White tries or does will work out. However, he knows not to avoid a good tradition just because it’s associated with a failed tenure. Tennessee football did that with Checker Neyland. It’s time to bring that one back.