Tennessee football: Ranking all 25 full-time head coaches in Vols history

116-62-8 (57-40-3); 3 SEC Championships

There’s not a lot of selling that needs to be done on Johnny Majors. Now, given what was happening when Tennessee football hired him, his tenure was somewhat of a disappointment. Here’s a guy who had just led the Pittsburgh Panthers to a national championship in one of the greatest rebuilding projects in history, and he was a favorite son.

However, when Majors arrived at UT, he had a miserable first four years, going 4-7, 5-5-1, 7-5 and 5-6. The Vols had a winning season every year from 1965 to 1976, and Majors had two losing seasons and one .500 season to make up for three of the next four years.

Still, with a focus on facilities and trying to take the program national on the recruiting trail, Majors knew what he was doing, and things finally came together in 1981. They went 8-4 that year and won their first bowl game under him, ended their 11-game losing streak to Alabama in 1982 and went 9-3 in 1983.

In 1985, they won their first SEC Championship in 16 years despite losing Tony Robinson for the year through five games. Thanks to the program Majors was building, 1988 would be the last year the Vols miss out on a bowl game for 17 years.

The program took off in 1989, winning back to back SEC Championships, launching a run through two coaches that involved four SEC titles and a national title. Majors built that, helped establish UT as Wide Receiver U and truly took the program national. His 1989 team that went 11-1 and finished in the top five had a national title case.

Although he won no national title at UT, what he built set the foundation for them to win it in 1998. His dismissal in 1992 to make room for Phillip Fulmer went down in a very unfortunate way, but what he was able to build over 16 years was still legendary.