Most Dominant Tennessee Teams
A sequel to The Athletic's article featuring some lesser-known squads
Welcome to the Music City Sports Report.
The Athletic Nashville staff took part in the company’s Most Dominant theme this past week by listing the 10 most dominant Tennessee teams of the last 50 years. Because this is the internet you’re supposed to disagree vehemently with all lists, but I thought they did a great job selecting the teams.
The 97-98 Lady Vols basketball team, which earned their top spot, is on the shortlist for the greatest college basketball team ever. It was certainly the best non-UConn women’s team of all time. They went 39-0, Pat Summit’s only undefeated season, to win their third straight national championship. The 2019 Vanderbilt baseball national title squad and the #FeelsLike98 UT football team are pretty unassailable at two and three as well. I’m really glad they included the 2000 Titans team, who most people forget were the best team in the NFL that season because of the loss to the Ravens at home in the Divisional round. And as a Lipscomb guy, I loved seeing the 85-86 NAIA men’s basketball national champions on the list.
As a companion piece to The Athletic’s list, I decided to round up six lesser-known dominant teams from Tennessee sports.
1958-59 Tennessee State Men’s Basketball
Record: 32-1
Postseason: Won National Championship
Then known as Tennessee A&I State, Hall of Fame coach John McLendon and future NBA champion and All Star Dick Barnett led the Tigers to three consecutive NAIA national championships. The three-peat, which was the first at any level of college basketball, capped off the historic three-year streak with a program-record 32 wins. The 56-57 was also the first historically black college to win a national championship in basketball. The Tigers went 94-8 over the three seasons, and the trio of teams was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
1978 Tennessee Men’s Swimming and Diving
Postseason: Won National Championship
This was the peak of legendary swimming coach Ray Bussard’s run at Tennessee. Bussard, a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and assistant coach for Team USA’s 1984 swimming team, won nine SEC championships and made the NCAA Tournament every season during his 21-year tenure with the Vols, but this was his only team national championship. The title was not only the first for any SEC squad, but for any team residing from the south. UT ran up a 24-point lead on the first day of competition and outscored second-place finisher Auburn 307-185.
2007 Vanderbilt Women’s Bowling
Record: 74-14
Postseason: Won National Championship
The first of two national titles for the Dores, with the second coming 11 years later, Vanderbilt bowling earned the program’s best season winning percentage by a significant margin. Led by four-time All-American Josie Earnest, Vanderbilt defeated UMES 4-3 in the national title match.
2009 Lipscomb Volleyball
Record: 28-4
Postseason: ASUN Championship
These next two entries don’t have the same impact at the national level as the other teams but were still dominant in their own right. Kicking off a streak of three-straight ASUN Championships, the 2009 Lipscomb volleyball squad dominated their conference by going 18-0 in league play (20-0 including the tournament) and advancing to the second of seven NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 12 seasons.
2010-11 Belmont Men’s Basketball
Record: 30-5
Postseason: OVC Championship
Rick Byrd’s time at Belmont featured sustained success, but the 2010-11 version was the most dominant iteration. The Bruins won a program-record 30 games, went 19-1 in conference play, earned the team’s fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, won the ASUN Championship game by 41 points, and only had five losses: at Tennessee (twice, once by one point), at Vanderbilt, at archrival Lipscomb, and vs Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee State Women’s Track and Field
Postseason: Won Several National Championships
It was hard to select one team from renowned coach Ed Temple’s 41-year reign atop the TSU track and field program. The TigerBelles won 34 indoor and outdoor national championships from 1953 to 1994, while TSU sent 40 athletes to the Olympics where they won 23 medals including 12 gold. Temple, a National Track and Field Hall of Famer, was also an Olympic regular as the head coach of the 1960 and 1964 Team USA women’s track and field squads and as an assistant in 1980. If you have to pick a single team, take one of the squads featuring Wilma Rudolph from 1959-62.
Links
As sports leagues around the world have already started back (Bundesliga!), the American professional leagues are gearing up for their return. The NHLPA is voting on the NHL’s return proposal this week, and Nashville wants to be one of the host cities. The Grizzlies are one of the 21 NBA teams that have opened up their facilities for voluntary workouts. Mike Organ and Blake Toppmeyer teamed up on a piece looking at the fates of all nine of Tennessee’s Minor League Baseball teams during the pandemic-halted summer.
Vanderbilt named Candice Lee their full-time athletic director. She is the first woman to become the AD at Vanderbilt and one of only five at Power-Five programs across the country.
In addition to their Most Dominant series, The Athletic had a story about the success of Tim Corbin’s players in their post-playing days and a profile of UT MBB’s John Fulkerson.
Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis player Christina Rosca was named the ITA Ohio Valley Senior Player of the Year.
Corey Davis is an underrated member of the Titans RUNNING game. Yes, you read that correctly:
TSU and MTSU football picked up a trio of solid transfers this week with the Tigers landing DL Davoan Hawkins from Kentucky and Florida State OL Mike Arnold, while the Blue Raiders signed Purdue DB Kenneth Major.
I really enjoyed this story from Chip Cirillo on how local track stars Skylar Coffey and Jett Kinder had their senior seasons cut short.
Coach Duggs is coming to Tennessee!
Never Forget: