Hall of Fame
The Titan of Tennessee, Robert R. Neyland ranks high on the
all-time list of winning coaches. In a 21-year career at the
helm of the Volunteers, he posted a 173-31-12 record for a
winning percentage of .829. Neyland's genius was well-
recognized, and Knute Rockne went so far as to call him
"football's greatest coach". Born in Greenville, Texas, in 1892,
Neyland went on to play a year at Texas A&M before
receiving an appointment to West Point, where he starred in
several sports including baseball. The New York Giants
offered him a $3,500 contract, a handsome sum then. Instead,
Neyland served briefly overseas in World War I, returning to
get his engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, then moving to West Point as aide-de-camp to
Superintendent Douglas MacArthur. Neyland retired from the
U.S. Army as a Brigadier General. In 1926, Tennessee hired
him as head football coach with explicit orders to "Beat
Vanderbilt!" He lost to the arch rival Commodores only three
times in 21 meetings. Neyland coached Tennessee in three
terms, 1926-34, 1936-40, 1946-52. Between these dates he
served in the Army. He had a 6-year stretch, 1927-32, when
his record was 53-1-5. His 1951 team was national
champion. Neyland died March 28, 1962.
