List of Tennessee Volunteers head football coaches

Phillip Fulmer was head coach of the program from 1992 to 2008.

The Tennessee Volunteers college football team represents the University of Tennessee in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The wows compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 27 head coaches since its formation during the 1891 season.[1] Josh Heupel started serving as the head coach in 2021.[2]

The team has played 1,215 games over 118 seasons of Tennessee football.[1] Prior to the 1899 season, the Volunteers did not have an official head coach while compiling a record of twelve wins and eleven losses (.522) between 1891 and 1898.[1] Since 1899, 11 coaches have led the Volunteers in postseason bowl games: Robert Neyland, John Barnhill, Bowden Wyatt, Doug Dickey, Bill Battle, Johnny Majors, Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones, and Josh Heupel.[3] Five of those coaches also won conference championships: Zora G. Clevenger captured one as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Neyland captured two as a member of the Southern Conference and Neyland, Wyatt, Majors, and Fulmer won a combined twelve as a member of the SEC.[4] During their tenures, Neyland and Fulmer each won national championships with the Volunteers.[4][5]

Neyland is the leader in total number of seasons coached and games won, with 173 victories during his 21 years with the program.[1] Barnhill has the highest winning percentage with .846.[1] James DePree has the lowest winning percentage with .306.[1] Of the 23 head coaches who have led the Volunteers, Neyland, Wyatt, Dickey, Majors, and Fulmer have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, GA.[6][7][8][9]

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships, and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Season(s)
[A 6] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC
[A 7] 		CC NC Awards
1 J. A. Pierce 1899–1900 14 9 4 1 0.679 2 3 1 0.417 — — — — — 0 —
2 Gilbert Kelly 1901 8 3 3 2 0.500 1 1 2 0.500 — — — — — 0 —
3 Hubert Fisher 1902–1903 17 10 7 0 0.588 4 6 0 0.400 — — — — — 0 —
4 Sax Crawford 1904 9 3 5 1 0.389 1 4 0 0.200 — — — — — 0 —
5 James DePree 1905–1906 18 4 11 3 0.306 0 8 2 0.100 — — — — — 0 —
6 George Levene 1907–1909 28 15 10 3 0.589 7 9 1 0.441 — — — — — 0 —
7 Lex Stone 1910 9 3 5 1 0.389 1 4 0 0.200 — — — — — 0 —
8 Zora G. Clevenger 1911–1915 43 26 15 2 0.628 8 12 0 0.400 — — — — — 0 —
9 John R. Bender 1916,
1919–1920 		27 18 5 4 0.741 10 5 3 0.639 0 0 0 — — 0 —
10 M. B. Banks 1921–1925 45 27 15 3 0.633 14 11 2 0.556 0 0 0 — — 0 —
11, 13, 15 Robert Neyland† 1926–1934,
1936–1940,
1946–1952 		216 173 31 12 0.829 103 17 10 0.831 2 5 0 — 8 4 – 1938, 1940, 1950, 1951 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1951)[14]
SEC Coach of the Year (1936, 1938, 1950)[14]
12 W. H. Britton 1935 9 4 5 0 0.444 2 3 0 0.400 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
14 John Barnhill 1941–1942,
1944–1945 		39 32 5 2 0.846 15 3 1 0.816 1 1 0 — 0 0 SEC Coach of the Year (1944)[14]
16 Harvey Robinson 1953–1954 21 10 10 1 0.500 4 7 1 0.375 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
17 Bowden Wyatt† 1955–1962 82 49 29 4 0.622 29 23 4 0.554 1 1 0 — 1 0 AFCA Coach of the Year (1956)[15]
AP SEC Coach of the Year (1956)[14]
SEC Coach of the Year (1956)[14]
18 Jim McDonald 1963 10 5 5 0 0.500 3 5 0 0.375 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
19 Doug Dickey† 1964–1969 65 46 15 4 0.738 23 10 4 0.676 2 3 0 — 0 1 – 1967 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1967)[14]
UPI SEC Coach of the Year (1967)[14]
SEC Coach of the Year (1965, 1967)[14]
20 Bill Battle 1970–1976 83 59 22 2 0.723 22 18 1 0.549 4 1 0 — 0 0 —
21 Johnny Majors† 1977–1992
[A 8] 		186 116 82 8 0.645 57 40 3 0.585 7 4 0 0 3 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1985)[14]
UPI SEC Coach of the Year (1985)[14]
SEC Coach of the Year (1985)[14]
22 Phillip Fulmer† 1992–2008
[A 8] 		204 151 52 1 0.743 91 35 1 0.720 8 7 0 6 2 1 – 1998 AFCA Coach of the Year (1998)[15]
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1998)[17]
George Munger Award (1998)[18]
Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year (1998)[19]
AP SEC Coach of the Year (1998)[14]
SEC Coach of the Year (1998)[14]
23 Lane Kiffin 2009 13 7 6 — 0.538 4 4 — 0.500 0 1 — 0 0 0 —
24 Derek Dooley 2010–2012 36 15 21 — 0.417 4 19 — 0.174 0 1 — 0 0 0 —
int Jim Chaney 2012 1 1 0 — 1.000 1 0 — 1.000 — — — — — 0 —
25 Butch Jones 2013–2017 51 34 27 — 0.557 14 24 — 0.368 3 0 — 0 0 0 —
int Brady Hoke 2017 2 0 2 — 0.000 0 2 — 0.000 — — — — — 0 —
26 Jeremy Pruitt 2018–2020 35 5 19 — 0.208 2 16 — 0.111 0 0 — 0 0 0 —
27 Josh Heupel 2021–present 36 31 12 — 0.700 15 10 — 0.583 1 1 — —

Notes

  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[10]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[11]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[12]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2012–13 college football season.
  6. ^ Tennessee did not field teams for the 1917 and 1918 seasons due to World War I and again for the 1943 season due to World War II.[1]
  7. ^ Divisional champions have advanced to the SEC Championship Game since the institution of divisional play beginning in the 1992 season. Since that time, Tennessee has competed as a member of the SEC East.[13]
  8. ^ a b Johnny Majors finished the 1992 season with a record of five wins and three losses. While Majors was recovering from heart surgery, Phillip Fulmer served as interim head coach for the first three games of the season and for the 1993 Hall of Fame Bowl. Fulmer was then named head coach at the conclusion of the regular season following the resignation of Majors.[16]

References

General

  • "Tennessee Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  • University of Tennessee Sports Information Office, ed. (2010). 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide (PDF). Knoxville, Tennessee: Department of Athletics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 6, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2011.

Specific

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 162
  2. ^ "Josh Heupel Named Tennessee's 27th Head Football Coach," UTSports.com, January 27, 2021.
  3. ^ 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, pp. 192–193
  4. ^ a b 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, pp. 165–173
  5. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (2010). 2010 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA.org. pp. 68–77. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  6. ^ Bob "The General" Neyland at the College Football Hall of Fame
  7. ^ Bowden Wyatt at the College Football Hall of Fame
  8. ^ Doug Dickey at the College Football Hall of Fame
  9. ^ Johnny Majors at the College Football Hall of Fame
  10. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  11. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  12. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  13. ^ Harwell, Hoyt (November 30, 1990). "SEC sets division lineups". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1C. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 132
  15. ^ a b "AFCA Coach of the Year Award – Past Winners". American Football Coaches Association. January 19, 2011. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  16. ^ 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 172
  17. ^ "All-time Eddie Robinson Award Winners". Football Writers Association of America. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  18. ^ "The Joseph V. Paterno Award Winners". The Maxwell Football Club. Archived from the original on March 6, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  19. ^ 2010 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 131