Johnny Majors, more than just a Tennessee football legend

Another legendary SEC coach is now gone with the passing of Johnny Majors.

With the passing of Tennessee Volunteers legend Johnny Majors just a few days after Auburn’s Pat Dye, it feels like the iron men of the SEC’s early glory years are falling like leaves from an autumn tree.

First of all, it’s only June, and secondly, who hurt 2020?

And can someone please check on Vince Dooley? Goodness.

Majors, who coached the Vols from 1977 to 1992 and died at the age of 85 today, was also a player at Tennessee beginning in 1953 as a tailback. He garnered SEC Player of the Year honors in 1955 and 1956.  His name is synonymous with Tennessee football, and could easily be considered one of the Mount Rushmore faces of the program.

Once again, an SEC fanbase is wistfully looking back at a simpler time of college football and likely wiping away a few tears.

Every SEC fan should probably join them.

It’s not often you hear a coach spoken about so reverently by a fanbase when said coach didn’t add much hardware to the school’s trophy case. In his 16 seasons at Tennessee, Majors led the Vols to only three SEC championships and no national titles. He had a 7-4 bowl game record, including two Sugar Bowl wins at a time that game was considered the postseason goal for SEC teams.

Solid, but not spectacular.

Yet, to hear Vol fans speak of Majors you might think he was their own version of Nick Saban. He was that well-loved in the Tennessee community. Unfortunately, the end of his coaching career at Tennessee wasn’t all sunshine and roses. In fact, it was — for that time in history — a bit controversial.

Johnny Majors and the Legion of Miserable

Just before the 1992 season began, Majors underwent quintuple-bypass heart surgery, and his interim replacement was assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Phillip Fulmer (you may have heard of him).

Under Fulmer, the Vols rattled off three straight wins to open the season, including huge victories against No. 14 Georgia on the road and a home thriller against No. 4 Florida. The Vols found themselves ranked 8th in the nation and Fulmer was the toast of the town.

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By September 26, Majors was back on the job, and after wins against Cincinnati and LSU, the bottom fell out of the Vols season.

Three straight losses to Arkansas, Alabama and South Carolina suddenly had the Tennessee fanbase split into the pro-Majors and pro-Fulmer camps. Feeling the heat beginning to rise, Majors uttered one of his most infamous lines.

“There is the Legions of the Miserable sometimes that are always going to be miserable. You don’t let those affect how you ap­proach your team,” Majors said, speaking of the fans in Knoxville.

And then it happened. Before the next game, a road trip to take on Memphis State, Majors — who had been negotiating a contract extension prior to the season beginning — resigned from his post, bringing gasps and dropped jaws all over the Vol Nation.

Phil Fulmer was eventually named the new head coach, but instead of getting to dig in and take care of business, Fulmer had to fight off accusations that he hamstrung Majors in an effort to rise to power.

Fulmer had to publicly refute a report from the Knoxville News Sentinal that he had worked behind the scenes with AD Doug Dickey and booster Bill Johnson to orchestrate the ouster of Majors, stating:

"“I want to make it known to all concerned that at no time have I ever demeaned or conspired against John Majors, or given anyone any sort of ultimatum. I was put in the middle of a situation not of my making. I have put my love, my heart and soul into this program, and that is the reason I’m standing here today. I appreciate all that Coach Majors has done for me and I always will wish him well.”"

The game may change but SEC politics remain the same.

Majors returned to the school where he had won his only national championship prior to coaching at Tennessee, and fizzled in just four miserable seasons at Pitt, while Fulmer led the Volunteers to an unprecedented time in their football program including a national title in 1998.

The Legions of Miserable got what they wanted as Majors faded away, and Fulmer soaked up the glory while solidifying his reputation as both a quality coach and someone who’s players had a reputation of offseason mischief. (See: Fulmer Cup)

Johnny Majors laid the groundwork and did a lot of the grinding to bring the Volunteers into a place of prominence in the SEC. Without the dirty hands of Majors, Fulmer probably couldn’t have been as successful.

Tennessee legend? Yes, but oh so much more to the Volunteer faithful.