John Majors at Iowa State

#26
#26
The biggest thing I liked about Majors, that a very rare few have, is the genuine deeply embedded execution strategy, articulated in such an impassioned and specific way that people (players/coaches) would all align and run thru a wall for him. No slight against coaches like JH, who do it differently...but, even for the fans, you'd get fired up hearing him praise and vent and preach on the Johnny Majors Show, in such a way that I never wanted to miss it as a kid on Sunday. And, it impacted his coaching tree too. Cutcliff learned how to be a detail execution freak from someone...am sure Majors had a big impact on that.
 
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#28
#28
DiderotsGhost said:
Obviously, Tennessee should've hired Johnny Majors when Dickey left, but I wouldn't slight Battle. Battle was a brilliant offensive coach and he sustained Dickey's success for 3 more seasons. Ultimately, the problem was he was too young for HC, struggled with recruiting, and needed more experience. But he's been immensely successful in life and he could've succeeded as HC. In many ways, I think Battle would've been better off being an OC / assistant for another decade before becoming an HC --- would've given him a better opportunity for success.

Honestly, if they had hired Johnny as HC and we had been able to keep Battle on staff, that would've been the biggest win.

Of course, we made the same mistake in 2008 when we hired Kiffin. A great, smart young coach, who just wasn't ready to be HC. The lesson IMO: there's a reason most successful college HCs are over 40.
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I certainly have never heard Bill Battle referred to as an offensive genius. He had two great athletes, Stanley Morgan and Condredge that extended his career and then the wheels fell off. Battle dabbled with the wishbone and the veer offenses his last couple of years as the program floundered. He inherited the powerhouse program in the SEC at that time similar to Larry Coker at Miami from Jimmy Johnson. At the time he was hired Battle would have been pressed hard to interview as an offensive coordinator somewhere much less as head coach. Woodruff went temporarily insane with that hire and he tried to pull a rabbit out of the hat with a largely unknown assistant similar to the Dickey hire which was genius. Bill Battle never coached another day in his life after getting let go by Tennessee at age 34 and if woodruff had not delivered Majors from Pitt in 1977 - he was gone too. Having said this, Bill Battle is a fine man and highly successful businessman who was thrust into a job far before he was ready. This would be similar to the young tight end coach at Tennessee now being elevated to head coach - insane or not? Bill did have some excellent seasons with the loaded roster but could not evaluate talent or recruit consistently. A former assistant at Etsu who played at Kentucky told me that the etsu staff was shocked by in-state players signing with Tennessee that were not that highly rated by ETSU. Battle might have won 1 game with Majors’ 1977 team that won 4. Anyway Johnny signed on with the Vols and it was his toughest rebuilding job. I am an eyewitness to the carnage left behind by Battle - do not and I repeat DO NOT hire Alabama men to coach at Tennessee.
 
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#31
#31
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#32
#32
Retrospectively, the choice between Majors and Battle may seem to be clearcut, but consider the context of the times. At the end of the 1969 season, when Dickey left Tennessee, Johnny was concluding his second season as a head coach. He was 6-14, with a conference record of 2-12. Despite his legendary status at Tennessee as a player, that did not, at the time, qualify as a proven track record of success.
 
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#33
#33
Volosaurus rex said:
Retrospectively, the choice between Majors and Battle may seem to be clearcut, but consider the context of the times. At the end of the 1969 season, when Dickey left Tennessee, Johnny was concluding his second season as a head coach. He was 6-14, with a conference record of 2-12. Despite his legendary status at Tennessee as a player, that did not, at the time, qualify as a proven track record of success.
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Had it not been for Fulmer, other than the ‘85 Sugar Vols, Majors and Tennessee football would not have become what we knew it.

Had we just given the guy a sabbatical!
 
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#35
#35
Not totally clear cut but interesting to look at:

Coach A: Heisman Runner Up at Alma Mater and program hero. Brother killed in auto accident as Assistant Coach. Father highly successful head coach in-state.

1957Tennessee (GA)
1958–1959Tennessee (backfield)
1960–1963Mississippi State (DB)
1964–1967Arkansas (assistant) National Champs 1964
1968–1969Iowa State (HC)

Coach B:

1964–1965Army (assistant)
1966–1969Tennessee (ends)
 
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#36
#36
Volosaurus rex said:
Retrospectively, the choice between Majors and Battle may seem to be clearcut, but consider the context of the times. At the end of the 1969 season, when Dickey left Tennessee, Johnny was concluding his second season as a head coach. He was 6-14, with a conference record of 2-12. Despite his legendary status at Tennessee as a player, that did not, at the time, qualify as a proven track record of success.
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Exactly this!

Majors obviously would've been the best hire, but it's very much a hindsight thing. He was still only 35 years old and hadn't succeeded at Iowa State yet. At the time, Battle's resume probably looked better, having coached under Dickey.
 
#37
#37
Let's add some more drama to the coaching search following the 1969 season: Doug Dickey who had just rebuilt Tennessee and won the SEC championship (by record) plays Florida in the Gator Bowl and loses 14-13. Following the game Dickey leaves UT and takes the Florida HC job. Key staff from UT follow Dickey to Florida. UT AD wishes to hire from the existing staff and focusses on the young 28 year old receivers coach - handsome guy who "looks" like a future head coach. One of the 2 receiver coaches at Tennessee now under Josh probably have similar credentials - I bet actually better as Josh throws the football. Rather than opening a search which could include Coach A in the example above or other sitting head coaches - the job is offered to the young receivers coach who accepts it. (Youngest in the country - maybe youngest ever in the SEC.) Granted Majors was young (35) also as was Doug Dickey (39). However, Majors had 7 more years' coaching experience as well as being hired as a head coach already in the Big 8 Conference. His record was not great his first 2 years but Iowa State was an incredibly difficult job. Well in retrospect which is most assuredly easier now than 50 years ago - Coach Battle had no clue on sustaining the powerhouse. Recruiting was abysmal and Majors and his staff paid the dues for the botched hire by Woodruff. Say what you want about Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley and Butch Jones and Pruitt (once show cause is over) and these were certainly not great hires by UT - but these men were and are professional football coaches. Bill Battle had enough of college football coaching at age 34 - and never coached another day. He proceeded to sell collegiate licensing products with others in the Alabama football network and was incredibly successful in business. That decision worked out well for the Battle family. For UT football - the lazy indifferent Boy Scout troop recruiting destroyed the phenomenal work of the Dickey team in 7 years. It would have been better if Battle had coached one more year and the bottom dropped out on his watch rather than on John Majors. Majors was hard to work for, he was a little on the wild side like Sherrill, Lacewell, and the Jimmy Johnson/Barry Switzer coaching tree this is all true. However - the absolute decimated squad he inherited was not fair as he would have crawled from Ames, Iowa to Knoxville in 1969 to coach his beloved Vols - and trying to rebuild that bankrupt SEC program after the Battle debacle was a brutal task. His hard work at Iowa State and Pitt would have been done in Knoxville by a real football coach if old Bob Woodruff had not fallen in love with the kid coach already on staff and made a lazy dementia-type decision. Dumb decision then and dumb decision now.
 
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#39
#39
Volosaurus rex said:
Retrospectively, the choice between Majors and Battle may seem to be clearcut, but consider the context of the times. At the end of the 1969 season, when Dickey left Tennessee, Johnny was concluding his second season as a head coach. He was 6-14, with a conference record of 2-12. Despite his legendary status at Tennessee as a player, that did not, at the time, qualify as a proven track record of success.
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And Battle’s was?
 
#41
#41
en.wikipedia.org

Dave Hart - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Boys - here is an interesting connection - the head coach at Pitt that John Majors replaced was Dave Hart - father of former Tennessee AD Dave Hart. Look at his coaching record at Pitt via that link.

No I was wrong on the comment above. There was another coach between Hart and Majors:

Carl DePasqua - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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#42
#42
ENGRVOL said:
Majors had a pretty good eye for talented coaches and hired Jackie Sherrill and Jimmy Johnson during that time
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The coaching staff on our 85 squad was amazing. Lovie Smith, Walt Harris, John Gruden to name a few. cant remember if Chief or Cutcliffe were on that staff.
 
#43
#43
General Jack said:
The coaching staff on our 85 squad was amazing. Lovie Smith, Walt Harris, John Gruden to name a few. cant remember if Chief or Cutcliffe were on that staff.
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Chief didn't join the staff until 89. Cut was hired in 82. Gruden was a GA but that was 86-87. Lovie didn't hired until 93


1706537943314.png

digital.lib.utk.edu

1985 Football Guide

Volunteers football media guide published in 1985. The team was led by coach Johnny Majors during this athletic season.
digital.lib.utk.edu digital.lib.utk.edu
 
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