page_title: History of Tennessee Volunteers football
section_title: Johnny Majors era (1977–1992)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Tennessee Volunteers football / Overview / Johnny Majors era (1977–1992)
caption_attribution_description: IMG_0524Johnny Majors seen at a return visit to the University of Pittsburgh where he coached the Panthers football team between 1973-1976 and 1993-1996.
context_page_description: The Tennessee Volunteers football team represents the University of Tennessee in American football.
context_section_description: Johnny Majors, who had played at UT from 1954 to 1956 before playing with the Montreal Alouettes in 1957, won a national championship at Pittsburgh in 1976 and decided that the job of head coach at Tennessee was too good to pass up. In 1977, he replaced Battle, who had just suffered two five-loss seasons. Majors lost his first game as head coach to the University of California, by a score of 27–17, in Knoxville. Majors struggled his first four seasons, going 4–7, 5–5–1, 7–5, and 5–6. His teams saw mild success in 1981, going to the Garden State Bowl and finishing 8–4, and in 1983, winning the Citrus Bowl and finishing 9–3.
  Majors' 1985 Volunteer squad (9–1–2, 5–1) was one of his most revered squads. The team lost only one game, regrouped after losing the services of Heisman trophy contending quarterback Tony Robinson for the season, and won their first conference title since 1969. The Big Orange earned a trip to the 1986 Sugar Bowl, where they defeated the heavily favored and 2nd-ranked Miami Hurricanes, coached by Jimmy Johnson, 35–7. The win kept Miami from winning a national title and earned the 1985 UT squad the nickname "Sugar Vols."  Also during the Majors era, Tennessee began to be known as "Wide Receiver U" after several of UT's wide receivers went on to play in the NFL.  Some of these players that started this reputation included, Tim McGee, Willie Gault, Eric Swanson, and Joey Clinkscales. The 1988 Vols lost their first 6 games, but went on to finish with a 5–6 record.  UT then won back-to-back SEC titles in 1989 and 1990. The Vols played on a January 1 bowl game every season in the early '90s under Majors. However, in the fall of 1992, Majors suffered heart problems, and missed the early part of the season.  Phillip Fulmer, then the offensive coordinator, took over as interim coach, and scored upsets over Georgia and Florida. Majors returned and lost three straight conference games to Arkansas, Alabama, and South Carolina. The Alabama loss cut the deepest as the Vols had lost seven in a row to the Crimson Tide. The administration decided to make a change after the regular season. Majors was forced to resign, and Fulmer coached the team in the Hall of Fame Bowl.
caption: Coach Majors
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