General Neyland

[TomcatVolFan]

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!

Good points you are making; however, Galusha Pennypacker was born June 1, 1844 (best estimate). He was actually a brigadier general in the US Army during the American Civil War. How about this fact...Galusha and Gen. George Custer are fifth cousins. Can you imagine having the name Galusha? Definitely a memorable name. June 1st is also a memorable date because Tennessee became a state on June 1, 1796.

 

[SpookyAction]

I think General Neyland would be fascinated by the game today and very intrigued the challenge of how to stop today's passing attacks with blitzes and rushing packages up front. He would try to build defenses similar to the recent BAMA and UGA units.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

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!

Amen, brother.

I think Neyland had Bryant's number. I think that would've been true even after the moves to A&M and then Bama. If the General had remained healthy enough to keep coaching.

Which infers that the General would've eventually changed with the game from single wing, single platoon mode to separate offense and defense with modern (or at least more modern) formations. I think he would've. Eventually. Heh.

And I'm pretty sure he'd have kept dominating Paul Bryant. Wherever the latter ended up.

Hope you and your family are well, Boca. Best to you.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Good points you are making; however, Galusha Pennypacker was born June 1, 1844 (best estimate). He was actually a brigadier general in the US Army during the American Civil War. How about this fact...Galusha and Gen. George Custer are fifth cousins. Can you imagine having the name Galusha? Definitely a memorable name. June 1st is also a memorable date because Tennessee became a state on June 1, 1796.

Ah, thanks for the correction, Tomcat. I remembered him being in the wrong war entirely. Heh, I'm getting old.

Thanks again. Go Vols!