Tag: Johnny Majors

Ray Goff reflects on coaching against Johnny Majors

Ray Goff reflects on coaching against Johnny Majors.

Ray Goff played quarterback at Georgia from 1974-76 for national championship head coach Vince Dooley.

Goff would later serve as an assistant under Dooley (1981-88) and replaced him as head coach following the 1988 season. Goff was Georgia’s head coach from 1989-95, compiling a 46–34–1 record.

Ahead of the Tennessee-Georgia game in Week 3 of a 10-game SEC-only schedule, Goff joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” He discussed his time at Georgia and coaching against Johnny Majors.

“I think the world of Johnny Majors,” Goff said of the former Tennessee head coach. “He beat me, beat me pretty good sometimes, sometimes it was very, very close. He was just a really good person and a good football coach.”

The entire interview with Goff can be listened to here or below.

 

Vols’ uniform combination for South Carolina game to honor Johnny Majors

The Vols will sport a familiar road look on Saturday.

COLUMBIA — Tennessee revealed its season-opening game uniform combination Friday.

The Vols will don an all-white look to contrast South Carolina’s blackout uniform combination.

Tennessee will also be wearing a patch with the No. 45 on it, to honor legendary player and longtime head coach Johnny Majors. Majors passed away this summer at the age of 85.

Majors wore No. 45 as a player, and his initials JTM are also on the patch. Tennessee’s Torchbearer symbol will also be displayed. The program’s official account released a graphic explaining the significance of both patches.

Tennessee and South Carolina kick off at 7:30 p.m. EDT at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Harvard’s Tim Murphy discusses friendship with Johnny Majors

Tim Murphy discusses friendship with Johnny Majors.

The Ivy League announced July 8 that the conference will not field athletic competitions during the 2020 fall semester.

A decision on fielding winter and spring sports, and whether fall sports competition would be feasible in the spring, will be determined at a later date.

Tim Murphy has been Harvard’s head coach since 1994. He joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss not playing football this fall and the time that former UT head coach and player Johnny Majors asked to attend the Harvard-Yale rivalry game.

Murphy also discussed his experience coaching at Neyland Stadium. He was the head coach at Cincinnati in 1992 when the Bearcats played at Tennessee.

The show can be listened to here or below.

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Randy Sanders reflects on Johnny Majors, ‘Miracle at South Bend’

Randy Sanders reflects on Johnny Majors, Miracle at South Bend.

No. 13 Tennessee defeated No. 5 Notre Dame, 35-34, on Nov. 9, 1991 at Notre Dame Stadium.

The Vols rallied to victory after trailing Notre Dame by 24 points. The comeback is known as the “Miracle at South Bend.”

Notre Dame led Tennessee, 21-0, after the first quarter, and 31-7 with less than a minute to play in the first half.

Randy Sanders ETSU
Photo by Dan Harralson

Current East Tennessee State head coach Randy Sanders served as Tennessee’s wide receivers coach in 1991.

Sanders joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” and discussed the Vols’ comeback win at Notre Dame. He also reflected on his time coaching and playing for former UT head coach Johnny Majors.

The show can be listened to here or below.

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Former Pitt OC Ken Karcher discusses ‘loss of a legend’ in Johnny Majors

Ken Karcher discusses ‘loss of a legend’ in Johnny Majors.

Ken Karcher enters his eighth season as head coach at East Central Community College.

Karcher served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Johnny Majors at Pittsburgh from 1993-96.

3 Sep 1994: Head coach Johnny Majors of the Pitt Panthers shouts instructions to his players from the sideline as he watches the Panthers 30-28 loss to the Texas Longhorns at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Majors, who passed away June 3, played at Tennessee (1953-56) and served as the Vols’ head coach from 1977-92. He came to Tennessee after a first stint as Pittsburgh’s head coach from 1973-76 and winning the national championship in his final season.

Karcher joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” and discussed his time coaching for Majors at Pittsburgh.

The show can be listened to here or below.

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Charles Coe discusses coaching for Johnny Majors at Tennessee, Pittsburgh

Charles Coe discusses coaching for Johnny Majors.

Charles Coe currently serves as defensive line coach at Missouri Baptist.

Coe coached at Tennessee under Johnny Majors (1990-92), overseeing the running backs and wide receiver units.

He also joined Pittsburgh’s staff when Majors returned as the Panthers’ head coach in 1993, serving as running backs coach.

Arizona Cardinals v Oakland Raiders
OAKLAND, CA – AUGUST 11: Wide receivers coach Charles Coe of the Oakland Raiders against the Arizona Cardinals on August 11, 2007 at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California. (Photo by Greg Trott/Getty Images)

Coe later joined Lane Kiffin’s Oakland Raiders staff in 2007 as wide receivers coach.

He played collegiately at Kansas State for head coach Vince Gibson. Before arriving at Kansas State as head coach, Gibson served as defensive coordinator for Doug Dickey at Tennessee from 1964-66.

Coe joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss his career and coaching for Majors at Tennessee and Pittsburgh.

The show can be listened to here or below.

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Vol Network to re-air Miracle at South Bend

Vol Network to re-air Miracle at South Bend.

KNOXVILLE — Vol Network Classic returns this week with another thrilling win for the Big Orange.

The network will re-air the 1991 game against Notre Dame, which is known as the Miracle at South Bend.

In that tilt between two of college football’s most storied programs, the Volunteers fell behind the Fighting Irish, 31-7, late in the second quarter only to come back and nab one of the biggest come-from-behind victories in UT football history.

Tennessee won the game, 35-34, played on a cold Midwestern day on Nov. 9, 2019.

The Vols scored the winning touchdown when quarterback Andy Kelly threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hayden with just over four minutes remaining in the contest.

The Vols, who entered the game ranked No. 13 in the country, sealed their victory over the No. 5 Irish when Jeremy Lincoln blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt by Notre Dame in the waning moments.

It was Tennessee’s second blocked field goal of the day. The Vols’ Darryl Hardy blocked a Craig Hentrich’s field goal attempt and Clyde Miley returned it 85 yards for a touchdown that made the halftime score 31-14.

The game will be re-broadcast as a tribute to late Tennessee head coach Johnny Majors, who died on June 3.

The game will re-air at noon (ET) in Knoxville on WNML-FM 99.1 and WNML-AM 990.

John Ward and Bill Anderson will be on the call.

Walt Harris remembers Johnny Majors, Vols’ ‘Wide Receiver U’

Walt Harris remembers Johnny Majors.

Former Tennessee head coach and player Johnny Majors died June 3.

He was 85.

Majors served as Tennessee’s head coach from 1977-92. He hired Walt Harris as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1983. Harris served in the capacity through the 1988 season before becoming head coach at Pacific.

Walt Harris Pittsburgh
File picture: special to the Phi6 Sep 1997: Head coach Walt Harris of the Pittsburgh University during the Panthers 34-17 loss to Penn State at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. Mandatory Credit: Rick Stewart /Allsport

Harris was also head coach at Pittsburgh (1997-2004) and Stanford (2005-06).

Harris joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss coaching at UT for Majors and the process of being hired as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He also discussed Tennessee’s offense being referred to as “Wide Receiver U” during his tenure at UT.

The interview can be listened to here or below.

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Jackie Sherrill reflects on Johnny Majors, a ‘Tennessee treasure’

Jackie Sherrill reflects on Johnny Majors.

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.

NCAA Football: USA TODAY Sports-Archive
Nov 28, 1981, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Jackie Sherrill stands on the sidelines against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Pitt Stadium during the 1981 season. Mandatory Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

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.

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Vols’ football history 1977-1992: Head coach Johnny Majors

Vols’ football history 1977-1992: Head coach Johnny Majors

KNOXVILLE — University of Tennessee football is rich in tradition and Vols Wire will explore the program by examining each head coach’s tenure.

This installment will look back on the time Johnny Majors was the head coach on Rocky Top.

Majors was a hot commodity following the 1976 season when he guided the University of Pittsburgh to a perfect 12-0 record and the national championship. With the Panthers, he coached Tony Dorsett, one of the game’s all-time great running backs.

Dorsett, who won the Heisman Trophy at Pittsburgh, went on to enjoy a stellar NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.

Majors, one of UT’s all-time greats as a single-wing tailback, replaced Bill Battle as head coach of the Volunteers. Battle never went through a losing season in seven years in Knoxville, struggled against the likes of Alabama and Auburn, thus he never won a Southeastern Conference championship. A 6-5 record in 1976 allowed for Majors to return home.

Majors, who also coached at Iowa State, had his own struggles early in his stop at Tennessee.

In his first two seasons in Big Orange Country, Majors compiled a sub-par record of  9-12-1 before going 7-5 during the 1979 campaign. In 1980, the Volunteers went 5-6 before Majors recorded his second winning season with the Vols in 1981, going 8-4.

After a rough start, Majors went on to lead the Big Orange to three SEC championships (1985, 1989 and 1990).

Majors, a who made the College Football Hall of Fame as a player, went 116-62-8 at his alma mater. He is a Legend of the Sun Bowl, a member of the Chick-fil-A/Peach Bowl Hall of Fame and the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.

His number, 45, is retired at Tennessee, where he was a prolific runner and passer. With the Vols, he also punted and returned kicks.

But he was forced to resign in 1992 and later returned to Pittsburgh as head coach and later an athletic administrator.

He had a brief career with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouttes before returning to Rocky Top to begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant under his mentor Bowden Wyatt (a College Football Hall of Famer as both a player and coach).

He was later a backfield coach for the Vols and served as a defensive backs coach at Mississippi State. Majors also served as an assistant to the legendary Frank Broyles at Arkansas.