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Tennessee football: Comparing Josh Heupel’s fourth year of career to other Vols head coaches

By Caleb Calhoun

Nov 6, 2021; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel motions to his team during the fourth quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 6, 2021; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel motions to his team during the fourth quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 5, 2020; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Footballs lay on the field before the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2020; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Footballs lay on the field before the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

14. John R. Bender

1908: Haskell Indians

3-5-1

One of the two coaches for Tennessee football to win a championship before Robert Neyland, John R. Bender led the Vols to an SIAA title in 1916 and then helped restore the program in 1919 after World War I, leading it through a difficult time before M.B. Banks took over in 1921. A Nebraska Cornhuskers graduate, Bender was a journeyman coach, though.

Known for his short punt formation, cutting edge at the time, Bender had gone 2-1 with South Dakota State Normal, now the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets, and he then went 13-1 in two seasons at Washington State. In 1908, he took over Haskell Institute in Kansas, a college for Native Americans that was a powerhouse in the West during that time.

Despite his early success, though, Bender had a rough first year with the Haskell Indians, going 3-5-1. That was his first losing season to that point and would be one of only four losing seasons in 14 years as a head coach. He went 7-2 the next year.

Bender used that success to take over the Saint Louis Billikens, where he went 13-3-1 in two years, before going back to Washington State and going 21-12 in three years and then going 3-4-1 in one year with the Kansas State Aggies (now Wildcats). He then took over UT and went 8-0-1 his first year before the war broke out.

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