Tennessee football: Ranking all 25 full-time head coaches in Vols history
M.B. Banks. 839. Pick Analysis. 10th head coach. 1921-25. 11. player. Scouting Report
27-15-3 [14-11-2 (4-1-1 SIAA; 10-10-1 Southern)]
Leading Tennessee football into a new era just after World War I, M.B. Banks saw a lot of success with the Vols. He took over for John R. Bender, and his first year was the Vols’ first year playing at Shields-Watkins Field, where they moved from Waite Field and where they still play to this day, as it is now known as Neyland Stadium.
A year later, Banks would lead the Vols out of the SIAA and into the Southern Conference, where they would remain until joining the SEC in 1933. On the field, Banks continued the success that UT began to build as a program in the mid-1910s despite the war interrupting it.
Banks went 6-2-1 in 1921 and 8-2 in 1922. He did have a drop-off in 1923, going 5-4-1, and in 1924 he fell to 3-5, the only losing season for the Vols on the field between Zora G. Clevenger’s first year and Robert Neyland’s last year of his first stint. However, he followed that up with a solid 5-2-1 season in 1925.
That year, Banks made the most important decision for the future of Tennessee football, bringing on Neyland as an assistant. In addition to all these changes, he oversaw orange being the main color for the university. As a result, by the time he left in 1926, a lot of pieces were in place thanks to him for the Vols to become a national program.