Greatest football coaches.....

[onevol74]

Zora Clevenger should be on the list somewhere. He won a SIAA conference championship and coached our first undefeated season in 1914, going 9-0 and beating Clemson, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and the mighty Sewanee.
He coached from 1911-1916 with a record of 26-15-2 (.628). One might say he got this whole thing started.
Also TIL, he was the athletic director as well as coaching baseball and basketball. His 1915-1916 basketball team went undefeated.
Edit: Found a cool picture.
View attachment 200151

Ranks 2nd behind Neyland in my opinion.

 

[peaygolf]

I’m going to be literal here....OP didn’t specify HC..... so I’ll add Cutcliffe, Chavis, and Cafego

 

[SpookyAction]

John Barnhill. He held the program together while the General was off fighting the war. Went 32-5-2 in 4 seasons with a Rose Bowl and a Sugar Bowl

I was going to post this as well.
He was essential to the program and the history, even if he is not cited often enough.

 

[J C Higgins]

In Tennessee history (who coached at least 5 years)

1. Neyland
2. Fulmer
3. Dickey (my first surprise - he only coached 6 years but brought us back to being a national contender. Battle benefited from his teams for another few years)
4. Majors (he really didn’t get competitive until the back half of his career and he squandered a few great teams. He was of course a legendary player)
5. Battle (he really wasn’t that bad until his last two seasons).
6. Wyatt. (Really didn’t have a great tenure following neyland).
7. Jones. No explanation needed.

Note that Dooley, Kiffen and others that didn’t coach 5 years are not included.

Also note that if all coaches were included, Pat would be at the top of the list even higher than the General. You can’t argue with 7 national championships.

What say you? Is this pretty much a no brained or is there debate past Fulmer.

This Pearl vs Barnes debate got me thinking about our all time coaches.

Certainly won't argue about Neyland but I would put Dickey (and his staff) as number two. He turned things around quickly and powerfully.