Tennessee faces its biggest test yet Saturday as it hosts Alabama. RossDellenger on why this Tennessee-Alabama clash has much more meaning
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—On Wednesday nights in the fall, Calhoun’s On The River is the place to be.
“This will be the biggest weekend we’ve had since 1998,” says Kim Bumpas, president of the Visit Knoxville tourism group. “It’s like the days of old.” “That’s what we are trying to do,” he continues. “We are trying to send a message to recruits: Tennessee is coming back.” In three different stints as coach, the last ending in 1952, Neyland won four of Tennessee’s six national titles. Dickey won in ’67, and Fulmer won in ’98. A decade later, Fulmer was fired, and the jury is still split over the controversial dismissal of one of the game’s greatest leaders. Despite playing in the SEC title game in 2007, UT finished ’08 at 5–7, its second losing season in four years and fourth consecutive season with four-plus losses.
Dickey points to the coaching hires. Others attribute the problems to an alignment with university officials. Some even say things grew political, which isn’t unusual in an SEC college town. During one five-year stretch from 2016 to ’21, four athletic directors. That overlapped with the university going through four different chancellors.
Fulmer hired Pruitt in what continued a line of failed coaches who, either before or after their stint at UT, had links to Saban. Pruitt worked under Saban for five years. Dooley worked on Saban’s staff at both LSU and the. Kiffin and Jones eventually worked for Saban after their time at Tennessee, and each returned to Knoxville wearing Crimson.
The overhaul of the athletic department began, a modernization that featured revamped fundraising efforts and revenue-generating moves. Less than two years in, the program has sold more than 17,000 new season tickets to hit the 59,000 mark in total sales. This past fiscal year, the university set fundraising records at $80.7 million.
In the 1990s, the Vols’ athletic budget normally topped the conference. Over the past three years, UT’s budget has fallen behind Kentucky for eighth in the SEC, despite having the third-largest football stadium in the league. The budget has now grown to $170 million, and “we’re not even close to done,” White says.
It’s why the Vols are “ahead of schedule,” says Marcus Hilliard, UT’s senior associate AD and chief of staff. Quarterback Hendon Hooker, emerging as a Heisman Trophy favorite, is completing 70% of his passes and averaging a stunning 10 yards per completion, good for third in the nation. He hasn’t thrown an interception in 239 attempts, dating back to last November.
In Knoxville, no one likes the man. “He is despised,” says Leigh Burch, a 65-year-old Knoxville bar owner and UT fan. “They call him Little Devil Nick.”
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