The Tennessee Volunteer Football Team, also nicknamed the “Vols”, represents the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) in NCAA Division I and is a member of the Southeastern Conference. Their home games are played at Neyland Stadium located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Phillip Fulmer is currently the head coach of the Volunteers and has been for the past 17 years. The 1998 college football season was the Volunteers’ last championship.
The University of Tennessee football team had its first season in 1891. In their second season of play in 1892, the Volunteers had their first victory, defeating Maryville College by a score of 25-0 in Maryville, Tennessee. In the first five seasons they competed, they did not have an official coach. His first head coach was JA Pierce. In subsequent years, the team would have several coaches who would stay with the team for a short time until head coach Zora G. Clevenger was hired in 1911 to guide and coach the team. Shields-Watkins Field was built in 1921 and is named for the field’s financial backers, William S. Shields and his wife Alice Watkins. The Shield-Watkins became Vol’s new home, where they were able to develop their game and train harder and better. At the time, it had a seating capacity of 3,200 and before it was used as a football field, it was used to play baseball. In 1922, the Vols began wearing orange jerseys, which would be their team color to this day.
In 1926, Robert Neyland, an Army captain and ROTC instructor at the University of Tennessee, became the head coach of the Vols. Former Vols player Nathan Dougherty, then president of athletics and dean of the University’s engineering program, pressured Neyland to even the score with archrival Vanderbilt, who at the time dominated football in Tennessee. Neylan successfully led the team past the Nashville school. In 1927, under Neyland, the Vols won their first Southern Conference title, and in 1928 they won a victory over the heavily favored Alabama team. The football program’s first All-American title went to Gene McEver. He led the team in scoring 130 points. To this day, his score remains a school record.
Following their conference championship, the team lost several of its star players to the NFL, including quarterback Peyton Manning, wide receivers Andy McCullough and Marcus Nash, and linebacker Leonard Little. The Vols were also coming off a 42-17 Orange Bowl loss against Nebraska and were riding a five-game losing streak against their rival Florida Gators. But despite all the obstacles, the Vols exceeded all expectations in the 1998 season. The team had new quarterback Tee Martin, Peerless Price and All-American linebacker Al Wilson, which led them to win their first national title over Florida State. They finished the season with a 13-0 record and ended a 45-5 streak over four years. Since their National Championship in 1998, the Vols have been moderately successful.
