General Neyland

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volbound1700

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#1
I often think this guy does NOT get the respect he deserves (partly because he coached prior to television).

Imagine if Saban had to leave Alabama 2x to serve his country overseas and comeback and rebuild his teams.

Neyland was a National Champion Boxer, West Point Superintendent, Youngest Brigadier General in US Army History, critical command structure for General Stillwell and the US Supported Chinese Forces during World War 2, and the Engineer that basically designed our Stadium.

I know he doesn't have the "National Championships" of Bryant or Saban (I think somewhat due to the error he lived) but did either of them accomplish what Neyland did off the field as well?

A huge reason we are still #2 on this list is thanks to Neyland. Neyland, is basically, the Tennessee program but I just don't see the attention or admiration for him as you see with other coaches.

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#2
#2
Couple of corrections:

-- Neyland was never the Superintendent at West Point. He was, as a young captain, aide de camp to the Supe (a fellow some folks here may have heard of: Douglas MacArthur).
-- Robert was the West Point boxing champion. And perhaps the inter-service academy champ (don't know about that one, just a possibility). I don't think he ever competed nationally. Thus I'm pretty sure he never won a national boxing championship. But he was also a stand-out pitcher on the baseball team, and starter on the football squad.
-- He was not the youngest brigadier in US Army history. That distinction goes to Galusha Pennypacker (I'm not making this up!), who served in the Continental Army under General George Washington. He was 20 when promoted to one-star. I think Robert Neyland was still a West Point Cadet when he turned 20.

Having offered those, I still am 100% on your side in support of Robert Neyland. He is the defining personality of Tennessee football, just as Pat Summit is for the Lady Vols program.

Of course, we all keep hoping we find a new coach who turns out even better. Maybe Josh Heupel?

Go Vols!
 
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#3
#3
VFL-82-JP said:
Couple of corrections:

-- Neyland was never the Superintendent at West Point. He was (as a young captain, I think) aide de camp to the Supe (a fellow some folks here may have heard of: Douglas MacArthur).
-- He was the West Point boxing champion. And was also, perhaps, the tri-service academy champ. I don't think he ever competed nationally. Thus I'm pretty sure he never won a national boxing championship. But he was also a stand-out pitcher on the baseball team, and starter on the football squad.
-- He was not the youngest brigadier in US Army history. That distinction goes to Galusha Pennypacker (I'm not making this up!), who served in the Continental Army under General George Washington. He was 20 when promoted to one-star.

Having offered those, I still am 100% on your side in support of Robert Neyland. He is the defining personality of the Tennessee program, just as Pat Summit is for the Lady Vols program.

Of course, we all keep hoping we find a new coach who turns out even better. Maybe Josh Heupel?

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

Item #2 is kind of iffy. He won the Heavyweight Title 3 years in a row so it was kind of like the national Title.

Neyland, Robert Reese | Tennessee Encyclopedia

You are correct, he served under Douglas MacArthur as assistant Super Intendent. I was told wrong.

#3 is another iffy one because the United States Army didn't really get created until after the American Revolution. That was the Continental Army but that is just a technicality so you are correct there. I think he was the youngest Brigadier General in US history.

Even if Heupel passed Neyland in wins on the football field, it is doubtful he could have the Military Accolades achieved by Neyland. That is what makes him stand out even over Bryant and Saban is what Neyland did for the country off the field.
 
#4
#4
volbound1700 said:
Item #2 is kind of iffy. He won the Heavyweight Title 3 years in a row so it was kind of like the national Title.

Neyland, Robert Reese | Tennessee Encyclopedia

You are correct, he served under Douglas MacArthur as assistant Super Intendent. I was told wrong.

#3 is another iffy one because the United States Army didn't really get created until after the American Revolution. That was the Continental Army but that is just a technicality so you are correct there. I think he was the youngest Brigadier General in US history.

Even if Heupel passed Neyland in wins on the football field, it is doubtful he could have the Military Accolades achieved by Neyland. That is what makes him stand out even over Bryant and Saban is what Neyland did for the country off the field.
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Clarifying again:

-- As aide de camp to MacArthur, Robert Neyland wasn't second-in-command. He was not the "assistant Superintendent." Nowhere close. An aide de camp is a personal assistant...a glorified manservant. His duties would have been whatever MacArthur wanted them to be, but probably included tasks like (a) keeping the General's schedule up to date, (b) guiding the General to and from meetings and events, (c) supervising the General's other personal staff, like his driver and cook, (d) making sure the General had the right uniform, the right notes and papers, etc, for whatever came next, (e) arranging transportation, and so on. The closest modern civilian parallel is a personal assistant or executive assistant. Meanwhile, the second in command at West Point is a 1-star general, the Commandant of Cadets, followed by another 1-star, the Dean of Academics. Then there are a lot of colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors on staff and faculty...all of whom would outrank then-Captain Robert Reese Neyland. :)

-- The United States Army was created in 1775, and is truly one year older than our nation. This isn't a matter of opinion, it is long-established fact. Google it, you'll see. There's even a "1775" on the US Army flag.

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#5
#5
I think that just in having Bear Bryant say that he was glad that Neyland retired because he couldn't beat him is more than enough for anyone to gather that he was a great football coach and no defense of him is really needed to anyone who really knows college football history.

The only people who don't respect him are the people who don't give a darn about college football and it's history and assume that Tennessee football will remain the in train wreck status that it was in from the time that Kiffin left until Heupel came last year.

However, we know that we still live in all of their heads just because of how much effort they put out in stating that Tennessee football will never be relevant again.
 
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#7
#7
EconVol92 said:
I think that just in having Bear Bryant say that he was glad that Neyland retired because he couldn't beat him is more than enough for anyone to gather that he was a great football coach and no defense of him is really needed to anyone who really knows college football history.

The only people who don't respect him are the people who don't give a darn about college football and it's history and assume that Tennessee football will remain the in train wreck status that it was in from the time that Kiffin left until Heupel came last year.

However, we know that we still live in all of their heads just because of how much effort they put out in stating that Tennessee football will never be relevant again.
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Remembering Neyland: "He taught me everything there is to know about the game of football, except how to beat him." -- Paul "Bear" Bryant

There is a second group of Tennessee fans who don't respect the General: those who don't know about him. We were all of us that way at one point in our lives. Had no idea why it was called Neyland Stadium. Didn't know we were champions in the '30s ... the '40s ... and the '50s, all under one fella.

But as new generations of Vols fans come into being, it's on us older ones to help them know the man and all he did for us. I appreciate the OP starting this thread, because he's contributing to that.

Go Vols!
 
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#8
#8
volbound1700 said:
I often think this guy does NOT get the respect he deserves (partly because he coached prior to television).

Imagine if Saban had to leave Alabama 2x to serve his country overseas and comeback and rebuild his teams.

Neyland was a National Champion Boxer, West Point Superintendent, Youngest Brigadier General in US Army History, critical command structure for General Stillwell and the US Supported Chinese Forces during World War 2, and the Engineer that basically designed our Stadium.

I know he doesn't have the "National Championships" of Bryant or Saban (I think somewhat due to the error he lived) but did either of them accomplish what Neyland did off the field as well?

A huge reason we are still #2 on this list is thanks to Neyland. Neyland, is basically, the Tennessee program but I just don't see the attention or admiration for him as you see with other coaches.

View attachment 444140
Click to expand...
Tennessee claims 6 NC's. '38, '40, '50, '51, '67, and '98. That means the General won 4 in a 10 year period. He didn't coach 4 years during WWII. He was also West Point's boxing champion and pitched Army to 20 straight baseball victories. He was 12-5 with some ties versus the Gumps, tree-killers, tea-baggers, etc. and the Bear never beat him. During and after WWII, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Chinese Order of the Cloud and Banner, and the Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire. In his first four years as head coach, Tennessee lost one game. Of his 173 wins as a head coach, 106 of those teams were held scoreless. Included are 17 consecutive regular season shutouts.
 
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#10
#10
Neyland had legitimate claims to about 4 or 5 titles maybe more. The national title system back then wasn’t very objective. The man would have won so much more if he wasn’t constantly being recalled to the military.
 
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#15
#15
volbound1700 said:
I often think this guy does NOT get the respect he deserves (partly because he coached prior to television).

Imagine if Saban had to leave Alabama 2x to serve his country overseas and comeback and rebuild his teams.

Neyland was a National Champion Boxer, West Point Superintendent, Youngest Brigadier General in US Army History, critical command structure for General Stillwell and the US Supported Chinese Forces during World War 2, and the Engineer that basically designed our Stadium.

I know he doesn't have the "National Championships" of Bryant or Saban (I think somewhat due to the error he lived) but did either of them accomplish what Neyland did off the field as well?

A huge reason we are still #2 on this list is thanks to Neyland. Neyland, is basically, the Tennessee program but I just don't see the attention or admiration for him as you see with other coaches.

View attachment 444140
Click to expand...
UGA is only 3 wins back for second place now, yet another reason to hope they lose every game.
 
#17
#17
Maybe 3 or 4 years ago I saw a list of the best college football coaches, with Bear Bryant listed as number 1, and Neyland only listed as 30 something. I couldn't believe that since Bryant never beat Neyland, and said he learned a lot from playing Neyland teams. Of course he missed 4 years of coaching for military duty (was actually out 5, but Tennessee did not field a team in 1943), and probably would have won an additional 35 to 40 games had he been coaching those years. Ridiculous.
 
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#20
#20
volbound1700 said:
They got far more losses though so it will take them a while to match winning percentage.
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Yep, they have 20 more losses, in 18 more games. This is the up to date Top 25 if you are interested. History of the game stuff is fascinating to me. We are also tied with Southern Cal right now.

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#21
#21
volbound1700 said:
I often think this guy does NOT get the respect he deserves (partly because he coached prior to television).

Imagine if Saban had to leave Alabama 2x to serve his country overseas and comeback and rebuild his teams.

Neyland was a National Champion Boxer, West Point Superintendent, Youngest Brigadier General in US Army History, critical command structure for General Stillwell and the US Supported Chinese Forces during World War 2, and the Engineer that basically designed our Stadium.

I know he doesn't have the "National Championships" of Bryant or Saban (I think somewhat due to the error he lived) but did either of them accomplish what Neyland did off the field as well?

A huge reason we are still #2 on this list is thanks to Neyland. Neyland, is basically, the Tennessee program but I just don't see the attention or admiration for him as you see with other coaches.

View attachment 444140
Click to expand...
Remember that the Bear never beat Neyland.
 
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#24
#24
Not sure how much Neyland would enjoy the way today's game is played. He was firmly in the camp of iron-man football and hated idea of player substitution.

In 1954, the NCAA established rules requiring the use of the one-platoon system but allowed for one player to be substituted between plays. The General praised the change, calling it the end of "chickenshit football". Hard to imagine no defensive unit, no offensive unit, no special teams. . . just football players
 
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#25
#25
VFL-82-JP said:
Remembering Neyland: "He taught me everything there is to know about the game of football, except how to beat him." -- Paul "Bear" Bryant

There is a second group of Tennessee fans who don't respect the General: those who don't know about him. We were all of us that way at one point in our lives. Had no idea why it was called Neyland Stadium. Didn't know we were champions in the '30s ... the '40s ... and the '50s, all under one fella.

But as new generations of Vols fans come into being, it's on us older ones to help them know the man and all he did for us. I appreciate the OP starting this thread, because he's contributing to that.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

Hey JP! Hope you're doing well. Great post!

A lot of UT fans like to point that quote out to Bama fans but that quote has nothing to do with Bama. Bryant was the coach at UK when he said that. But I think it shows the amount of respect Bryant had for Neyland in a "you learn more in defeat" sort of way. You could see some of those traits as he moved on to aTm with his "Junction Boys" training. I think he realized to be the best your teams had to be both smart and tough as nails, as Neyland's teams typically were.

One of my favorite maxims from the General (and it's not one of the gameday maxims) but it goes something like: If your line moves forward, you'll win. If it goes backwards, you'll lose. Works in both the military & football!
 
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