Johnny Majors early struggle at UT

[knox73]

When evaluating coaching records, you have to look at before and after their tenures. Iowa State was the worst team in the Big 8 before Majors came and they won back to back bowl games and were solid after he and Tony
Dorsett left. Pitt was winless or won 1 game before Johnny came and they had 4 winning seasons, a national title and that program was a powerhouse for a decade after he left. Both Iowa State and Pitt have facilities named for Johnny Majors - I think that is absolute recognition of what the man did for those schools.

The dumbest part is that if Majors had followed Dickey - the Vols would never have missed a beat. A real coach would have been hired rather than the rabbit out a hat move with Battle - who was absolutely not ready. When Majors arrived at UT the program was destroyed and was the worst in the SEC.

When the 42 year old Majors hit Knoxville, as has been mentioned, the recruiting limits had changed, his first all-star class did not pan out and it took a long time to get traction. Battle had the good fortune to take over a powerhouse and his record reflects that. Majors took over a 3mile island disaster for which there was no quick fix.

Majors would have been viewed as one of the greatest coaches ever if he had stayed at Pitt but bygum he came home and rebuilt the UT program to a national power - with a huge lift from Fulmer. They held the fort for 33 years. Both men were great coaches... but if I had to hire one man to build a program from rock bottom - it would be Johnny Majors.

 

[vols-1]

Most of our fans don't remember Johnny's first 4-5 years. Here was a coach who was coming from a National Championship team at Pittsburgh in 1976. It took him 4-5 years at UT just to re-establish a culture, much less winning.

I hear alot of talk on here about Miles and Saben. We had a coach who's winning percentage over 17 years was as good as Saben.

Society has NOT changed!! ALOT of UT fans got a dose of being a National Power year in and year out. They are proof, that not everybody can handle winning, you are gonna have some down years. A guy has a couple bad years and he is forced out. A guy, who has probably FORGOT more about football then most of us will ever know.

Coach Jones should be given 4-5 years.....Unfortuanatley, he wont be given that long, unless he is winning. Im convinced 30% of our fanbase are complete ****ing douche bags. Im convinced 50% of the people on Volnation are complete ****ing douche bags!!

How many times has a coach started off with four or five bad years at a school and went on to win a NC for that school? I can think of one time in last 50 years, and it wasn't in the SEC.

 

[ZZ13]

How many times has a coach started off with four or five bad years at a school and went on to win a NC for that school? I can think of one time in last 50 years, and it wasn't in the SEC.

Frank Beamer came close. 24-40-2 in his first 6 years at VT with two 2-win seasons and one 3-win season. Played for the BCS championship at the end of the '99 season but didn't get the win.

 

[munsterlander]

Coach Majors took over a program at Iowa State that had been down for years and got them to the point where they were going to bowl games. The same was true at Pitt. I don't think it was luck. Recruiting was different then, but all the other coaches were under the same system. It was still about the coach who could put together the best team given those NCAA recruiting regulations at that time, and in 1976 it was Coach Major's team that put it all together and won the national championship. He left Jackie Sherrill a solid program that kept winning 9 - 11 games per year. Coach Majors could have stayed at Pitt and maybe won another national championship. He gave up a lot to come to UT if you think about it. However, he made the choice as a true Tennessee Volunteer to come back home and take on the challenge of rebuilding the Vols. During the last 9 full seasons that Majors was at UT, 5 of those season his teams won 9 or more games. When he left UT, he left Fulmer a solid football program already in place. His total number of career wins (at all 3 schools he coached) is more than anyone who has ever coached at the University of Tennessee. I don't think his coaching career tarnished his football playing career in any shape or fashion.

'68 Iowa 3-7
'69 Iowa 3-7
'70 Iowa 5-6
'71 Iowa 8-4
'72 Iowa 5-6-1

4 losing seasons out of 5; 1 decent but not spectacular year. This is "getting them back to where they were going to bowl games"?

'73 Pitt 6-5-1
'74 Pitt 7-5
'75 Pitt 8-4
'76 Pitt 12-0

Not a bad run, and for once, clearly trended in a good direction, and Sherrill had a very good run the following few year. Clearly the highlight of his coaching career. But to say Dorsett and 125 recruits wasn't a significant stroke of luck/help...

'77 Tenn 4-7
'78 Tenn 5-5-1
'79 Tenn 7-5

The same number of wins in the first 3 years as CDD. I would say BS to the argument that "the well was more dry" then than when CDD took over.

'80 Tenn 5-6
'81 Tenn 8-4
'82 Tenn 6-5-1
'83 Tenn 9-3
'84 Tenn 7-4-1
'85 Tenn 9-1-2
'86 Tenn 7-5
'87 Tenn 10-2-1
'88 Tenn 5-6

Up, down, up down (yes, I consider a 7-win season to be very down).

'89 Tenn 11-1
'90 Tenn 9-2-2
'91 Tenn 9-3
'92 Tenn 5-3 (partial)

Sort of the glory years. Took over a freaking decade to get there. Could it possibly have been an effective staff had more to do with it?

'93 Pitt 3-8
'94 Pitt 3-8
'95 Pitt 2-9
'96 Pitt 4-7

Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Lifetime .557. That's averaging 6-5. Having the most career wins with that kind of winning percentage simply means people put up with a ton of losses.

A great coach would have gotten Tennessee consistently moving up no later than '80. A great coach would have suffered an occasional 1 or 2 or 3 year bad stretch, but then consistently kicked butt with 9 or 10 or 11-win seasons for the next 5. That's never what we got. We got inconsistency, hit or miss, who the hell knows what's going to happen. This is categorically not great coaching, and it was painful to live through. You all know the names of some great coaches - go check out their records.

I know this is an article of faith for some of you guys, I just don't get it.

 

[ZZ13]

I lived through every one of those seasons, Munster. You hit it right on. Game to game you never knew if you were going to win or lose, regardless of the opponent. Faith continued year to year because there was always a big win sprinkled in with the silly losses. 1989 reminded me a lot of this year. High powered offense with a very sketchy defense. In 1989 the offense managed to find ways to outscore teams. The 2012 team managed to find ways to just miss getting enough points. Both seasons could easily have turned out like the other.

 

[Roustabout]

Majors had his issues. However, UT was in a bad way when majors took over. Dooley had roster issues, but he never had to deal with worrying about a recruiting budget, or having decent facilities. Dooley had plenty of financial support. He wanted expensive changes to the new facility and they obliged. He cost UT millions in doing so, and set the project back another year.