Tale of the Coaching Tape: Nick Saban vs. Gen. Robert Neyland
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The biggest name in Tennessee football history is undoubtedly Gen. Robert Neyland, who transformed the Volunteers into a national power after taking the job in 1926.
Due to his military duties and obligations, the West Point graduate who served in France during World War I ended up coaching Tennessee at three different times. He was also called upon for a peacetime tour in Panama followed by another tour of duty as a brigadier general in the Pacific theater during World War II.
Known for his discipline and hard-nosed approach, Neyland was originally hired because of rival Vanderbilt, to which Tennessee had lost 18 of 22 games (with two ties). The turnaround was all but immediate, eventually prompting Dean Nathan Daugherty, the faculty chairman of athletics, to call Neyland’s hiring the best move he ever made. Led by quarterback Bobby Dodd, Tennessee went 27-1-2 from 1928-30.
During his three stints, Neyland compiled an amazing record of 173-31-12. In those 216 games the opponent failed to score 112 times, including all ten regular-season opponents in 1939. His 71 consecutive scoreless quarters is still an NCAA record.
“If Neyland could score a touchdown against you, he had you beat,” claimed Herman Hickman, one of Neyland’s players who went on to join the original staff of Sports Illustrated. “If he could score two, he had you in a rout.”
An 11-0 finish in 1938 led to a No. 2 ranking in the final Associated Press poll, which it matched a year later (the Vols went 10-1 after a 14-0 loss to Southern California in the Rose Bowl). However, Neyland’s Volunteers were the consensus national champions in 1951, though they went on to lose to Maryland in the Sugar Bowl, 28-13.
One of his biggest games was on October 20, 1928, when Neyland approached Alabama coach Wallace Wade before kickoff in Tuscaloosa and asked if the game could end early if things got out of hand.
The gamesmanship worked. Halfback Norm McEver returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and the defense frustrated the heavily favored Crimson Tide for a 15-13 victory. The two sides have been fierce rivals since, with their matchups each season now known as the “Third Saturday in October.”
Perhaps that’s why Knute Rockne once called Neyland “football’s greatest coach.”
“The general was not the easiest guy to work with Monday through Friday, but on Saturday he was a fatherly figure,” Neyland tailback Herky Payne said. “On Saturday, he was a warm man who gave you a lot of confidence.”
Nick Saban vs. Gen. Robert Neyland
(For consistency purposes, statistics through 2018 season)
Category Saban; Neyland
Seasons 23; 21
Consensus national titles 6; 1
Top five finishes 9; 5
Top 25 finishes 16; 9
Overall record 232-62-1*; 173-31-12
Percentage 78.5; 82.9
Losing seasons 0; 0
Bowl/CFP record 14-10; 2-5
Percentage 58.3; 28.6
Conference titles 9; 7
Conference record 138-42-1; 103-17-10
Consensus All-Americans 41; 9
First-round draft picks 34; 3-i
Record against ranked teams 82-40; 16-8-i
Percentage 67.20; 66.67
Record against top 10 teams 42-21; 9-6-i
Percentage 66.77; 60.00
Ratios/percentages
National title seasons One every 3.8 seasons; 21
Consensus All-Americans 1.78 every season; .43
First-round draft picks 1.48 every season; NA
Average wins vs. ranked teams 3.57 each season; NA
Wins over top-10 teams per year 1.82 every season; NA
i-The first Associated Press poll and NFL Draft were conducted in 1936
Some of the information in this report was also used in the book "Nick Saban vs. College Football."