Doug Dickey leaving when he did killed the momentum that he had built throughout the late 60s. They were arguably the top program in the SEC at that point and were poised to have a very good run through the 70s. Bill Battle admittedly didn't like recruiting and after his first team went 11-1, they steadily dropped into mediocrity. Johnny did little to quell that descent until the mid and late 80s. Fulmer built of the momentum of the early 90s and took Tennessee back to the top. If there had been 4 or 12 team playoffs, the Vols would have been in most of them and had a chance to win another National Title or two.
The march of idiots that Mike Hamilton and others marched through here for the next 15 years buried a once great tradition. Heupel has the program on solid footing with the talent on campus and is headed in the right direction. Need to get the winning attitude back.........and develop a winning QB.
Vols can claim six and there are a few others in there as well like 1939 and 1950 and if Johnny had not gone brain dead conservative in a couple games in 1985 (UCLA & Ga Tech) that ended in ties, the Vols would have won the National Title that year as well.