A quarter-century is a very valuable tool for famous sportswriters paid big salaries to create stories some might read this time of year.
They can pick 25-year all-star teams in almost anything, for sure football, basketball and baseball. If desperate, I suppose they could include wrestling and beach volleyball.
“Best” or “worst” or “biggest” of almost anything over such an extended period is guaranteed to ignite disagreements. When readers speak up, others read to see what triggered different opinions. Readership is priceless.
Being neither famous nor highly paid, it is a stretch for me to get under this summer safety umbrella but I’ll try. Here are the really big Tennessee sports stories of the first quarter of the 2000s.
At the top of my never-to-be forgotten list is the sad demise of the incomparable Pat Summitt. She announced in August 2011 that she had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She died June 28, 2016 at age 64.
I again read the dramatic stories by resident authority Maria Cornelius to be sure of the feel and facts. Maria reminded me that the legendary coach was an intense, demanding, focused, bright-blue-steely-eyed competitor famous for her stare. I knew she led the Lady Vols for 38 years and racked up a mind-boggling five-to-one record of 1,098-208.
In my old notes, starting at the Montreal Olympics, I credit her with:
- “You play to win the game.”
- “Here’s how I’m going to beat you. I’m going to outwork you.”
- “We keep score in life because it matters. It counts.”
Eight Summitt teams won NCAA basketball championships. One went 39-0. Fourteen of her players became Olympians – as was Pat.
Summitt’s leadership went far beyond the floor that honors her name. All Summitt players who completed their eligibility earned degrees.
The Pat Summitt Plaza, which features Pat’s bigger-than-life bronze statue, was built across from the basketball arena and dedicated in late 2013.
Most never meet icons or legends but a lot of us got to know Pat. We are fortunate. She set the standard for how to transform good athletes into great teams – and how to win titles with intensity and integrity.
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Second on my unforgettable quarter-century list is the very expensive lesson in how not to do it, Jeremy Pruitt, from hiring to firing, the clumsy football tale of losing while cheating.
Pruitt was the culmination of a decade of dysfunction. There were warning landmarks. University leadership was not tuned in or poorly informed. Twice the powers passed over a logical candidate for athletics director.
“I applied for the job in 2003 and 2011,” said Bill Schmidt. “A lot of people encouraged me to do it.’’
Schmidt was a natural. He was an athlete. He won an Olympic medal in the javelin. He was an assistant track coach for the Volunteers. He had two degrees in business. He added big-time negotiation experience and remarkable organizational success.
He was sports director of the World’s Fair in Knoxville. His department was the only one to produce a profit. He helped organize and manage the Los Angeles Olympics. He was the marketing genius who made Gatorade famous. He knew sports people all over the country – and many elsewhere in the world.
He would have taken a pay cut to be AD at Tennessee.
Decline: Athletics director Mike Hamilton fired Phillip Fulmer as football coach without a replacement in reach. Mike ignored negative info from Raiders owner Al Davis and signed 5-15 NFL failure Lane Kiffin.
Lane caused more than his share of chaos and left after one season, in the heat of the recruiting race, in the middle of the night, marked by a mattress burning on campus.
Coach Derek Dooley? Hamilton liked the famous last name.
Coach Butch Jones? Dave Hart did that to us. He believed everything he heard in an interview, starting with brick by brick. There was a revolving door and so many false hopes.
John Currie, the next athletics director, had a Tennessee connection. He was part of the original fire-Fulmer campaign. As his next contribution, in 2017, he was going to give us Greg Schiano as coach. That deal exploded and went sky high. On a spectacular Sunday, fans revolted. Currie was confused. In his frantic search for somebody else, he lost his job.
Chancellor Beverly Davenport, better known as Aunt Bev, told Currie where to go and was told by higher-ups to bring back Fulmer now to restore order. And find a coach, sooner the better.
In the worst call of his Hall of Fame career, Phillip bet big on Pruitt, Alabama through and through, defensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide at the time.
Jeremy’s most famous line regarded asparagus: “I ain’t never heard of that.”
I will not get into his thoughts on cornbread.
Pruitt surrounded himself with Alabama associates. Brian Niedermeyer was his lead salesman. He became national recruiter of the year.
Internal investigation and NCAA follow-up found more than 200 individual recruiting and oversight violations. Pruitt, Niedermeyer and nine other coaches and staff were fired. Pruitt was hit with a six-year show cause penalty. UT was tagged with five-year probation and scholarship restrictions, spent a fortune in legal fees and was fined $8 million by the NCAA. There were other smaller penalties. Eleven victories were vacated.
Food for thought: Nothing like this had ever happened at Tennessee. Dr. Donde Plowman kept it from being worse. This chancellor might be a champ.
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No. 3 on my list is Hart’s acquisition of Rick Barnes as basketball coach a few minutes after Texas fired him. If he stays until old age, he may become the best and most successful coach in Vol men’s hoops history. Some say he already is.
The College World Series championship of 2024 is No. 4. Coach Tony Vitello is a flamethrower and a powerful motivator. Just look at how many former Vols are playing pro baseball. Look at that eye-black still on the centerfield fence in Omaha where Hunter Ensley went to catch a long ball.
Maybe No. 5 is Tennessee’s discovery of Dr. Danny White as a big money-maker and spender. The cost of watching Tennessee football keeps going up but fans are buying tickets because there supposedly aren’t enough to go around.
Looks like Dr. Danny did OK with his football hire, Josh Heupel (37-15, 20-12 versus SEC).
We’ll know more about White’s Midas touch after we see how he manages payments to players and whether his forthcoming entertainment center is enough “better fan experience” for a while.
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No. 6: Most thrilling moment for the most paying customers (101,915) was Tennessee over Alabama, 52-49, third Saturday evening in October 2022, clutch catch by Bru McCoy of a Hendon Hooker high pass with two seconds left to set up Chase McGrath’s field goal. It slipped over the crossbar with five-eighths of an inch to spare.
Hooker threw five touchdown passes to Jalin Hyatt – on his way to the Biletnikoff Award. One was 60 yards, one 78, the end of 15-year Tide monopoly.
In celebration, a few thousand violated the no-smoking-cigars rule at Neyland Stadium. A few thousand more ran onto Shields-Watkins Field to tear down the posts. I do believe I heard happy UT president Randy Boyd say he’d pay the SEC fine. He could have said out of his hip pocket.
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Two of the top names in Tennessee sports history, based on career achievements, departed this life. John Majors died at 85. John Ward was 88.
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Most unexpected athletic success story of this quarter-century was Dalton Knecht. He came from Fargo, North Dakota, Northeastern Junior College and Northern Colorado, learned some defense from Coach Barnes, and received millions from the NBA.
Peyton performed reasonably well – in the NFL, with his endorsement portfolio and his Omaha Omaha Productions.
Most realize Peyton Manning has faithfully supported Tennessee with class, dignity and money. He continues as the Vols’ top ambassador. He also sells for Papa John, DirecTV, Buick and Bush beans. He has been good for Nationwide Insurance, Bud Light, Frito-Lay and U.S. Bank.
His TV production company, crown jewel of Manning’s business ventures, was founded in 2020, named after his iconic “Omaha, Omaha!” check-off call at the line of scrimmage during his playing days.
Insightful quote from an associate: “Never underestimate the level of this man’s ambition. He’s super impressive, incredibly smart and incredibly focused.”
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Some other big events were reported in the relatively recent 25 years. Monica Abbott set an NCAA softball strikeout record – 724 in 2007.
Tennessee took over a wing of the College Football Hall of Fame. Inductees in this quarter century: Reggie White, Doug Dickey, Frank Emanuel, Chip Kell, Fulmer, Peyton, Al Wilson and Eric Berry. No surprises. All were predictable. All were deserving.
We waited impatiently for Todd Helton to receive his MLB honor. He finally got it.
Nowhere previously on this list, typically underappreciated or taken for granted: The Iceman, QB Casey Clausen, had a 14-1 record on the road. Defensive tackle John Henderson won the Outland Trophy.
Courage award: Trey Smith didn’t let a few blood clots stop his football career.
Rare accomplishments: Josh Dobbs on the field and in the classroom, aerospace engineering major, A in thermodynamics and matrix computations and all the other courses.
When it had nothing else to do, Tennessee retired Doug Atkins’ number 91. The large man was SEC football player of the 1950-75 era. Indeed, this quarter-century stuff has been going on for a while.
Marvin West welcomes comments and questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
