Neyland's 1939 Vol team was the last to shut out each of its regular season opponents. Over the course of his career, 106 of his 216 opponents failed to score against his Tennessee teams. Tennessee still holds an NCAA record for holding opponents scoreless 71 consecutive quarters.
Neyland's teams won Southern Conference Championships in 1927 and 1932, piling up undefeated streaks of 33 and 28 games along the way, and SEC Championships in 1938, 1939, 1940, 1946, and 1951. The Vols were consensus national champions in 1951, won the Dunkel and Litkenhous National Championships in 1938, and the Dunkel and Williamson crowns in 1940.
It was Gene McEver who kicked off the Neyland era with his 98-yard return of the opening kickoff in the 1928 Alabama game, a game the underdog Vols won 15-13. Each of his succeeding eras would be highlighted by similar big plays: Johnny Butler's 56-yard run against Alabama in 1939 and Hank Lauricella's 75-yard run against Texas in the 1951 Cotton Bowl.
Neyland's 21-year record at Tennessee was 173 wins, 31 losses and 12 ties.
Neyland, who came to Tennessee as an Army captain and left as a brigadier general, brought one of the most efficient single-wing offenses in the country to go with an unyielding defense. He was brought to the head coaching position by Dean Nathan Dougherty with a simple injunction: "Do something about the series with Vanderbilt."
After Neyland's death in 1962, the University established the Robert R. Neyland Scholarship, academic scholarships awarded to non-athletes, many of whom are National Merit Scholars. The endowment for these scholarships now exceeds $1.5 million and 124 students have been beneficiaries of the awards.
The thoroughfare behind the stadium's South end, once called the river road, is now named Neyland Drive. More recently, the Vol football complex on campus was named for Neyland and Knoxville businessman B. Ray Thompson.
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2. Play for and make the breaks, and when one comes your way - SCORE. 3. If at first the game - or the 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. |
Charles Brakebill, now UT's vice-president for development, was part of the Neyland Scholarship program when it was begun after Gen. Neyland's death.
That's when Brakebill said he learned a lesson about the Neyland name and how to pronounce it. He had apparently called the General's wife, Peg, "Mrs. NAY-land." "She stood up and raised her knee and said 'Mr. Brakebill, first thing let's do is get my name straight.' She hit her knee about three times and said, 'It's NEE-land, just like my knee.' That stuck in my mind."