Tennessee will host Pittsburgh Saturday in the Johnny Majors Classic (noon EDT, ESPN).
Pittsburgh’s football program claims nine national championships (1915, 1916, 1918, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1976).
Former Tennessee football player Johnny Majors guided the Panthers to the 1976 national championship. Running back Tony Dorsett won the Heisman Trophy that season.
Majors’ head coaching career included stops at Iowa State, Tennessee and two stints with the Panthers.
Majors was an All-America standout for the Vols in 1956, playing halfback and punter. He was the Southeastern Conference’s Most Valuable Player in 1955 and 1956.
Majors was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1987.
College Football Hall of Fame head coaches from Pittsburgh
- Glenn “Pop” Warner (1915–23)
- Jock Sutherland (1924–38)
- Clark Shaughnessy (1943–45)
- Len Casanova (1950)
Warner was an innovator in the game and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in its 1951 inaugural class.
He created the single-wing and double-wing formation, as well as the three-point stance and the body blocking technique. One of the most popular youth football associations bears his name.
As a head coach, he won 319 games at Georgia, Pittsburgh, Cornell, Carlisle, Stanford, Temple and Iowa Agricultural/State University.
He won three national championships at Pittsburgh and guided Stanford to the national title in 1926.
Sutherland played at Pittsburgh and coached the Panthers from 1924-38, compiling a 111-20-4 record. He was also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame’s 1951 inaugural class in 1951. Sutherland also coached the Steelers between 1946-47.
He won a national championship at Lafayette in 1921 before winning titles in 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936 and 1937 at Pittsburgh.
Shaughnessy coached at Pittsburgh between 1943-45, compiling a record of 10-17. He also coached at Tulane, Chicago, Stanford, Maryland, Loyola (Louisiana) and Hawaii.
Shaughnessy served as head coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams for two seasons. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968.
Casanova coached the Panthers in 1950 and guided them to a 1-8 record. He also coached at Santa Clara and Oregon, winning 104 games as a head coach. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977.
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