50 Years Ago, 1964, Coach Doug Dickey's Vols

[1972 Grad]

Yeah because the situations were identical to what Jones has had to deal with.

I watched what Dickey did back then, and if Jones has half the success that Dickey did, I'll be happy. Back in those days, the top bowl games were Rose, Cotton, Orange, Sugar, and 5th was Gator. The Rose Bowl had a tie in , so Tenn wasn't eligible.

After Dickey's first year, Tenn played in the Bluebonnet Bowl, Gator, Orange, Cotton, and Gator again. The players that he left behind played in The Sugar the year after he left. They were all his players, because Battle's recruits were ineligible Freshmen that year.

Dickey's record was 46-15-4. Throw out his 4-5-1 first year, he was 42-10-3. The previous 6 years before Dickey's arrival showed no more than 6 wins in a season, and no bowl games. He won 2 SEC Championships. The SEC then was a strong conference then with very good Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, and Ole Miss teams. Plus, we played teams such as UCLA.

While Dickey was head coach, we lost no games in Neyland in 67, 68, or 69. I hope tha Jones can approach Dickey's success.

 

[WooPigSooie]

Did someone say 1964?? National Champs!

 

[Volosaurus rex]

1965 was the first year for which I have any recollection whatsoever of Tennessee football. In '65, Dewey Warren split time at the quarterback position with Charlie Fulton; they attempted 79 and 59 passes, respectively. The following year Dewey led the nation in passing efficiency, I believe the only time a Tennessee quarterback has ever done so. in '66, Dewey completed 136-229 passes (59.4%) for 1716 yds., 18 touchdowns and a passer efficiency rating of 142.2 (1966 Tennessee Volunteers Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com).

I don't know when Penn State first developed the reputation of Linebacker U, but it could just as easily have been applied to Dickey-coached teams and the early Battle teams which still consisted primarily of players recruited by Dickey's staff. Frank Emanuel (1965), Paul Naumoff (1966), Steve Kiner (1968, 1969), Jack Reynolds (1969), and Jackie Walker (1970, 1971) all earned All-American honors as linebackers.

We were almost as prolific in producing All-American defensive backs during that period. Albert Dorsey (1967), Jim Weatherford (1968), Bobby Majors (1971) and Conrad Graham (1972) represented Tennessee on All-American teams as defensive backs (UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics - Football).

 

[orangebloodgmc]

Or a very young and thin OL and DL and a unproved QB, plus banking on a bunch of unproved Freshman, other than that we are doing pretty good.

Most of those limitations, we don't currently have either.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

1965 was the first year for which I have any recollection whatsoever of Tennessee football. In '65, Dewey Warren split time at the quarterback position with Charlie Fulton; they attempted 79 and 59 passes, respectively. The following year Dewey led the nation in passing efficiency, I believe the only time a Tennessee quarterback has ever done so. in '66, Dewey completed 136-229 passes (59.4%) for 1716 yds., 18 touchdowns and a passer efficiency rating of 142.2 (1966 Tennessee Volunteers Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com).

I don't know when Penn State first developed the reputation of Linebacker U, but it could just as easily have been applied to Dickey-coached teams and the early Battle teams which still consisted primarily of players recruited by Dickey's staff. Frank Emanuel (1965), Paul Naumoff (1966), Steve Kiner (1968, 1969), Jack Reynolds (1969), and Jackie Walker (1970, 1971) all earned All-American honors as linebackers.

We were almost as prolific in producing All-American defensive backs during that period. Albert Dorsey (1967), Jim Weatherford (1968), Bobby Majors (1971) and Conrad Graham (1972) represented Tennessee on All-American teams as defensive backs (UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics - Football).

'66 was the first year I paid attention to it. :hi:

 

[Waterturkey]

As much as I'd like to say "apples to apples", its not. My old man played on Dickey's first two squads...times were different. He started left tackle at a whopping 230lb.

No recruiting limit, seperate freshman squad, largely whites only (he played against a team with black players once (Houston)), no lifting program (maybe Dickey started that?)

For the first time in 3 coaches I'm sold, but if he wins 6 games plus next year it's a major accomplishment.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

I watched what Dickey did back then, and if Jones has half the success that Dickey did, I'll be happy. Back in those days, the top bowl games were Rose, Cotton, Orange, Sugar, and 5th was Gator. The Rose Bowl had a tie in , so Tenn wasn't eligible.

After Dickey's first year, Tenn played in the Bluebonnet Bowl, Gator, Orange, Cotton, and Gator again. The players that he left behind played in The Sugar the year after he left. They were all his players, because Battle's recruits were ineligible Freshmen that year.

Dickey's record was 46-15-4. Throw out his 4-5-1 first year, he was 42-10-3. The previous 6 years before Dickey's arrival showed no more than 6 wins in a season, and no bowl games. He won 2 SEC Championships. The SEC then was a strong conference then with very good Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, and Ole Miss teams. Plus, we played teams such as UCLA.

While Dickey was head coach, we lost no games in Neyland in 67, 68, or 69. I hope tha Jones can approach Dickey's success.

Dickey also was 3-2-1 against Bear Bryant-coached Alabama teams, including three successive victories in 1967-69. Very few coaches, if any, from that period could claim a winning record against the Bear.

Quite frankly, I can see parallels between Dickey and Jones; both were/are highly innovative in terms of their overall impact on the program. Dickey oversaw the transition from Tennessee as the last holdout of single-wing offensive football to the modern era. Only two years after implementing his new system, UT had the nation's most efficient passer, Dewey Warren. If only Dickey had never made the mistake of his life in returning to coach at his alma mater . . .

 

[1972 Grad]

As much as I'd like to say "apples to apples", its not. My old man played on Dickey's first two squads...times were different. He started left tackle at a whopping 230lb.

No recruiting limit, seperate freshman squad, largely whites only (he played against a team with black players once (Houston)), no lifting program (maybe Dickey started that?)

For the first time in 3 coaches I'm sold, but if he wins 6 games plus next year it's a major accomplishment.

The fact is that Dickey turned a very mediocre program into one of the top teams in the country in a relatively short time. He was under the same rules with the same size players as everyone else.

 

[livefaith]

As much as I'd like to say "apples to apples", its not. My old man played on Dickey's first two squads...times were different. He started left tackle at a whopping 230lb.

No recruiting limit, seperate freshman squad, largely whites only (he played against a team with black players once (Houston)), no lifting program (maybe Dickey started that?)

For the first time in 3 coaches I'm sold, but if he wins 6 games plus next year it's a major accomplishment.

Did the other teams play by the same rules and find themselves in basically equal situations? Or was UT the only team like that then?

 

[Volosaurus rex]

If Dickey had stayed at Tennessee for all of his coaching career, I believe that he would have retired with a legacy comparable to that of Vince Dooley, i.e. 200-250 victories, perhaps six SEC championships and 1 or 2 national titles. A side benefit is the fact that Bear Bryant's reign of terror in the 1970s would have been far less severe.

 

[onevol74]

Reference to 64? ahhh, when gas was 35 cents a gallon...good tmes

Actually, it was 17 cents for the low grade (regular), 19 cents for the mid-grade, and 21 cents for ethyl (high-test) in 1964. That was at our Gulf Station next door.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Did the other teams play by the same rules and find themselves in basically equal situations? Or was UT the only team like that then?

Tennessee was in the forefront of breaking the racial barrier in SEC football. Lester McClain (1968) was the first African-American player to letter in the sport; Jackie Walker was the "first black player to captain an SEC football team and the first black SEC player selected as a first-team All-American, which he was in 1970 and 1971" (SEC Football by the Numbers: Conference call to the Hall of Fame | AL.com), and Condredge Holloway was the first African-American quarterback in the SEC. However, all SEC programs had begun to integrate their football programs by 1972 (see p. 63 of Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era: Big ... - Michael Oriard - Google Books).

 

[LWSVOL]

Coach Doug Dickey’s first year as coach , the Vols were 4-5-1. The following year the Vols were 8-1-2. Winning percentage jumped from .450 to .818.

Let's hope Coach Jones can replicate this feat.

totally, totally different SEC landscape. No way to compare that era than the current era..

 

[LWSVOL]

If Dickey had stayed at Tennessee for all of his coaching career, I believe that he would have retired with a legacy comparable to that of Vince Dooley, i.e. 200-250 victories, perhaps six SEC championships and 1 or 2 national titles. A side benefit is the fact that Bear Bryant's reign of terror in the 1970s would have been far less severe.

if Woodruff would have hired Johnny Majors rather than Bill Battle, we would have won some NCs in the 70s.. absolutely the worse decision in Tennessee football history was not hiring Majors in 1970 to coach Tennessee

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Bringing Johnny back at that point in time certainly would have been a popular hire among the Volunteer faithful. Battle was then the youngest Division-1 head coach and had no prior head coaching experience. On the other hands, Majors was 6-14 in his first two years at Iowa State (1968-69) and that might have factored into Woodruff's decision not to hire Johnny then.

 

[1972 Grad]

totally, totally different SEC landscape. No way to compare that era than the current era..

What you can compare is that Dickey beat most every team that we played, so he did a better job than most all of his contemporaries. It would be nice if Jones could do the same.

 

[86'Sugar bowl]

Dickey didn't have 6 top 25 teams on the schedule that year either. If we are just throwing out facts.

They actually played 3 top 10 teams in 65....if your talking facts....

 

[bamawriter]

if Woodruff would have hired Johnny Majors rather than Bill Battle, we would have won some NCs in the 70s.. absolutely the worse decision in Tennessee football history was not hiring Majors in 1970 to coach Tennessee

While it's impossible to fully refute a hypothetical like yours, Alabama completely dominated the SEC in the 70s to a degree that had never occurred before and likely won't ever happen again. Suggesting that Majors would have made the ultimate difference in that setting is some serious pie-in-the-sky thinking.

 

[Rooster1]

Unlike most I think this will be a turnaround year for Jones. Qb play should be improved. CBJ has a new line to mold to play his style of football. Wr and rb core are much improved. And we have a lot of talent coming in. 8 wins this year and a second place finish in the SEC east! GBO!

I want what he is smoking.