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Tennessee's legendary HC, General Neyland's Maxims
Jan 8, 2020, 9:54 PM
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Are what our Tigers need to live by Monday night.
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SEVEN PILLARS OF TENNESSEE FOOTBALL
September 22, 2010
Seven Pillars of Tennessee Football
Sept. 22, 2010
By JOSH PATE
UT Media Relations
UTsports.com's Josh Pate turned to the ultimate Volunteer graybeard, the legendary Gus Manning, and asked the 60-year veteran of the athletics department to identify seven individuals who were instrumental in shaping Tennessee football into what it is today. So to ensure that the next generation of Big Orange fans develops an appreciation for those who "gave their all" while paving the way, for each UT home game on the 2010 schedule we'll profile ... The Seven Pillars of Tennessee Football.
The name is on the side of the building, and the image will soon be displayed in a statuesque manner at the primary entrance. Some folks only know Neyland as the iconic place where the Vols play, but history shows the 100,000-seat stadium is a byproduct of his greatness.
Robert Reese Neyland (1892-1962). For many of us, he was simply The General.
Neyland was a tremendous leader who had all the attributes you want in a head coach. He was trained in the military, a West Point graduate who became a general during World War II. He was superb in every phase of coaching, as an organizer, an innovator, a tactician and a disciplinarian. Mostly, he had brains.
Stories have been told and books have been written about Neyland's military expertise. He was a West Point graduate of 1916 having also earned varsity letters in baseball, boxing (he was national collegiate champion) and football. He was sent to France during World War I and later did graduate work at MIT, and by 1921 he was serving as aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur at West Point.
ONE GOAL: BEAT VANDERBILT
Tennessee called and Neyland answered. He began as an assistant coaching ends and making $750 a year while also working with the university's ROTC program. A year later, Neyland was promoted to head coach with one goal: beat Vanderbilt.
He was head football coach of the Volunteers from 1926-52, with his job twice interrupted by military service -- in 1935 to serve in Panama, and from 1941-45 for World War II when he became a general. Still, Tennessee only lost two games (five ties) in Neyland's first seven seasons under the single-wing attack. That style was later known as the Neyland System adopted by Knute Rockne at Notre Dame and coaches at Cornell, Army and Alabama. Of course, three more historical seasons were 1938-40 when Tennessee went undefeated each year in the regular season and unscored upon in the 1939 regular season.
But it was a 1928 game that elevated Tennessee's reputation. Against the favored Alabama Crimson Tide, the Vols set the tempo early when Gene McEver ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown and eventually an upset victory. In a report from a Chattanooga television affiliate looking back at Neyland's tenure, McEver noted "Not that it was the greatest game, but it was that game that put Tennessee on the map."
That game exemplified several of Neyland's seven maxims for football. Today, they're posted in the locker room and recited by the team.
TURNED DOWN USC
With success comes interest. Neyland had just led the Vols to an 11-1 season in 1950 and a 20-14 Cotton Bowl victory over Texas when he attended the annual NCAA meetings in Dallas. It was there where Willis Hunter contacted him. Hunter was the athletics director at Southern California and offered Neyland the head coaching job with the Trojans. An informer who spoke with the Knoxville Journal at the time and broke the news said Hunter was given one job: get Neyland at any price.
USC offered Neyland $35,000 to become its head football coach. For a little perspective, no college or professional coach at that time was making more money. Among the others who were considered for the USC job were Paul Brown (who declined and remained with his Cleveland Browns), Oklahoma's legendary Bud Wilkinson, and a coach at Kentucky by the name of Paul "Bear" Bryant.
Neyland, of course, said no thanks. He stayed in Knoxville and won a share of the 1951 national championship, the fourth for Tennessee under his watch. A year later, his team went 8-2-1 and Neyland retired from coaching and continued to serve as the UT athletics director until his death.
The line on Neyland's coaching career is hard to match: 173 wins, 31 losses, 12 ties, seven SEC championships, two Southern Conference championships, four national championships. Winning was part of him; he never thought another team could beat Tennessee.
Neyland, however, was also thoughtful. He was known for his inspirational speeches before taking the field, often ending his pregame talks with "We will win because they do not have the background."
The General's background, as we know, spoke for itself.
Neyland Maxims
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
2. Play for and make the breaks, and when one comes your way SCORE.
3. If at first the game - or breaks - go against you, don't let up ... put on more steam.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ball game.
5. Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle ... for this is the WINNING EDGE.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
7. Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes.
1. Don't make mistakes. No blown coverages or lane assignments, no delays getting the defensive calls in, and no turnovers.
2. Take advantage of LSU's mistakes and turn them into Clemson TDs.
3. We saw this against OSU. No matter what, out on more steam and outplay LSU.
4. Block, block, block.
5. All of these, consistently. Several Oskies would be nice. (Oskies = interceptions for those that don't know 1950's terminology)
6. We need consistency from our kickers and force errors by theirs. No silly illegal blocks in returns and no roughing their kickers.
7. Clemson Tigers fight, fight, fight.
I have a lot of Tennessee fans in my family and friends, and all of them are pulling for the Clemson Tigers Monday night.
Apparently it's an orange thing.
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