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

173-31-12 [103-17-10 (41-2-5 Southern; 62-15-5 SEC)]

Was there ever any doubt? No Tennessee football coach has accomplished anything Robert Neyland didn’t accomplish. Neyland, a General in the U.S. Army who graduated from West Point and played football there, oversaw UT through three different eras and was elite in each.

The first was when he took over in the 1920s. UT had just moved from the SIAA to the Southern Conference, and Neyland was hired to even the score with Vanderbilt, their arch-rival at the time. Neyland installed the fashionable single wing, moving away from the T, and he supplemented it with his defensive prowess.

With that combination, he went 8-1 his first year, then he had three straight undefeated seasons. In fact, he had five undefeated seasons his first seven years, winning the Southern Conference in 1927 and 1932, and hitting the national stage thanks to Gene McEver, who would have won the Heisman in 1929 had it existed.

Then Neyland was called to service in Panama for a year in 1935. He came back in 1936 and ushered in the Golden Age of Tennessee football from 1938 to 1940, winning three straight SEC Championships, enjoying three straight perfect regular seasons, going perfect overall in 1938, capturing two national titles.

Ironically, they went untied and unscored on in the 1939 regular season, the one year they didn’t win a national title. However, Neyland got the Vols to their first three bowl games, and after 1933 entering the SEC, won them their first three SEC titles during that time.

Neyland was then called away again to train soldiers as the United States was gearing up for potentially entering World War II. He came back and won an SEC Championship in 1946 but then had back to back .500 seasons in 1947 and 1948, giving off the vibe that he lost it.

However, demonstrating his brilliance, Neyland changed up again, focusing on specific elite recruits in the backfield and at end rather than on the line like in the 1930s, which is how he got Hank Lauricella and Doug Atkins. The result were 1950 and 1951 national championships.

Although health forced him into early retirement after 1952, Neyland’s success with Tennessee football makes him probably the third greatest coach in SEC history behind Bear Bryant and Nick Saban. He never lost to Bryant either, and his impact on UT is unmatched. As a result, there was no debating that he tops this list.