Former Tennessee head coach and player Johnny Majors died June 3.
He was 85.
Majors first became a head coach in 1968 at Iowa State. He came to Iowa State after serving as an assistant at Arkansas under Frank Broyles.
Jackie Sherrill, former college football head coach at Washington State, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, served as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1967.
Majors hired Sherrill as his defensive backs coach at Iowa State when he became the Cyclones head coach. Sherrill also coached alongside Majors at Pittsburgh from 1973-75. He was defensive coordinator for the Panthers when Majors became head coach at Pittsburgh.
Sherrill joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss his football career, coaching alongside Majors and the last time he spoke with the former UT player and head coach.
“Coach and I became very close,” Sherrill said of Majors. “We talked Sunday night and we talked for over an hour.”
Sherill mentioned Majors “was sitting out on his porch and looking at the river” during their conversation and that the former Vol was in “great spirit.”
“We lost a Tennessee treasure and can’t be replaced,” Sherrill said.
The longtime college head coach mentioned that Majors was a “mentor and father figure” for him.
The entire interview with Sherrill can be listened to here or below.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/835523968″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Tennessee Two-A-Days · Jackie Sherrill