KNOXVILLE — University of Tennessee football is rich in tradition and Vols Wire will explore the program by examining each head coach’s tenure at UT.
This installment will focus on the career of Robert Neyland, who was head coach at Tennessee three different times.
A military member, Neyland was called into military service three times while coaching the Volunteers.
He is the father of modern Vols’ football and compiled a coaching record of 173-31-12 at Tennessee.
Tennessee now plays its home football games in a stadium that bears his name.
Neyland first came to UT as an assistant coach in 1925. He was a lineman at Army, where he was also an assistant coach for the Cadets.
Neyland’s first stint as UT’s head coach ran from 1926-34, and during that time he went 76-7-5 and lost just one game in his first three seasons. He was 8-1 in 1926, losing to Vanderbilt in Nashville, 20-3.
In 1927, under his guidance, the Vols went 8-0-1 and won the 1927 Southern Conference championship. The only blemish on Tennessee’s record was a 7-7 tie against the Commodores on homecoming in Knoxville.
In 1928, Neyland guided the Volunteers to a 9-0-1 record. He beat Vanderbilt for the first time and played Kentucky to a scoreless tie in Knoxville before closing out the regular season with a 13-12 victory over Florida.
Between 1929 and 1932, Neyland posted a coaching record of 36-1-3 and guided the Vols to another Southern Conference title.
The Southeastern Conference welcomed the Vols in 1933 when Tennessee went 7-3 and 5-2 in the league. In 1934, UT went 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference before Neyland was called into service in the Panama Canal Zone. He was away from the game for one year and was replaced by assistant coach W.H. Britton, who went 4-5 in 1935.
Neyland returned to Rocky Top in 1936 when he went 6-2-2. In 1937, he again won six games before going 11-0 and winning the national championship in 1938.
Over the next two seasons under Neyland, the Big Orange went 20-2, winning a pair of SEC titles and another national championship in 1940.
The military called Neyland away again between 1941-45 and assistant John Barnhill was elevated to head coach.
Neyland, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1956, returned to Tennessee in 1946.
He won two more SEC titles and back-to-back national championships in 1951 and 1952.
Neyland served as athletic director at Tennessee between 1936-41 and again from 1946-62.