Hank Lauricella number 27, and General Robert Neyland watch Tennessee from the sidelines after Lauricella set up the classical first score with an electrifying 75-yard gallop to the Texas five-yard line. Tennessee wins in this classic Cotton Bowl by beating Texas 20-14 in 1951.

Nathan Dougherty, considered by many to be the founding father of UT Athletics. Nathan Dougherty, an associate professor of Civil Engineering, was named interim chairman of the University's Athletics Council in 1917 and held this "temporary" position for the next 39 years. During this time, he designed Shields-Watkins Field, helped create the Southeastern Conference, and hired a football coach whose own name would become synonymous with UT football--Robert Reese Neyland.

Robert Reese Neyland (February 17, 1892 - March 28, 1962 in Knox County, Tennessee) was an American football coach and also served the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of Brigadier General. He is one of the few college football head coaches to have non-consecutive tenure at the same school.

Born in Greenville, Texas Neyland was appointed to West Point by Congressman Sam Rayburn, graduating in 1916. One of the greatest athletes of his day, he was a star football lineman, baseball pitcher, and national collegiate boxing champion. He was commissioned as an officer in the Corps of Engineers and served in France during World War I. After the war he served as an aide to Douglas MacArthur, who was then superintendent at West Point, and became an assistant football coach for the Black Knights of the Hudson.

Wanting to continue coaching, Captain Neyland was appointed Professor of Military Science at the University of Tennessee. After one season as an assistant to head coach M. B. Banks, Neyland was named football head coach and Athletic director by President Nathan W. Dougherty in 1926. He coached the team for nine years before the Army called him to active duty for one year in Panama. Upon returning to Tennessee from the Panama Canal Zone he retired from the military in favor of coaching.

He coached unbeaten Volunteer teams in 1938 and 1939, before being recalled to military service again in 1941. In World War II Neyland served in the China-Burma-India Theater, supervising the transportation of materiel through monsoons and across the Himalayas to the troops commanded by General "Vinegar" Joe Stillwell. During his military career he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit and made a member of the Order of the British Empire. He retired from military service a second time, in 1946, with the rank of brigadier general, and again returned to the Volunteers as coach through 1952. He led them to an national championship in 1951. He then served as athletic director at the university until his death.

	Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee is not only named for "The General", but was designed by him. His plans included all expansions that have brought the stadium to its modern size.

He remains the all-time winningest coach in Volunteer history with 173 wins in 213 games, 7 Southeastern Conference championships, and 4 national championships. Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee is not only named for "The General", but was designed by him. His plans included all expansions that have brought the stadium to its modern size.

General Neyland was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (as a coach) in 1956.

Playing career and education

Neyland attended Burleson Junior College in his home town of Greenville, Texas for a year and then transferred to Texas A&M playing football a year before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he starred as a football lineman and baseball pitcher. The National League baseball New York Giants offered him a $3,500 contract, which he turned down. Instead, Neyland served briefly overseas in World War I, then returned returning to get his engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then moving to West Point as aide-de-camp to Superintendent Douglas MacArthur.

Family

On July 16, 1923, Neyland married Ada "Peggy" Fitch (September 1, 1897 in Michigan - March 7, 1976) of Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had met while she was visiting friends at the Academy. Ada was the daughter of Charles Lewis Fitch (July 24, 1845 in Michigan - ?) and Mary S. (June 1853 in New York - ?). They had two sons, Robert, Jr., born February 11, 1930, and Lewis, born December 6, 1933. Gen. Neyland was the son of lawyer Robert Reece Neyland, Sr. (October 1859 - ?) and Pauline Lewis (January 1861 - ?). His siblings were sister Carroll M. Neyland (January 1890 - ?) and brother Mayo W. Neyland (March 1896 - ?). Both Gen. Neyland and Ada are buried in Knoxville National Cemetery.

Rare Video of General Robert Neyland

 General Robert Neyland

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Rare Speech of General Robert Neyland

 General Robert Neyland Speech

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IS IT NEE-land or NAY-land?

There has been continuing controversy over the pronunciation of the name N-E-Y-L-A-N-D. Here's the true story. 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, Peggy, "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."

Robert Neyland Scholarship Fund

Several months prior to his death, General Neyland began working on a plan for supporters of UT athletic teams to show their interest in UT's academic programs by offering scholarships to attract outstanding student scholars to the University. General Neyland himself was an outstanding scholar, as well as an athlete during his college days at West Point. It was the General's dream that the University offer four-year academic merit scholarships to students who possessed outstanding academic and leadership qualities.

Following Neyland's death, Dr. Andrew D. Holt, then UT president, announced that a nationwide campaign would be launched to raise a minimum of $100,000 to establish the Robert R. Neyland Scholarship Fund. In October 1962, at half-time of the UT vs. Alabama game, 165 women representing UT's sororities collected more than $10,000 in a 15-minute time period at Neyland Stadium to launch the effort. By the end of fall 1962, more than $65,000 had been committed to the Neyland Scholarship fund. In the spring of 1963, a decision was made that proceeds from the annual Orange and White spring football game would go to help build the Neyland Scholarship Fund.

The first Neyland Scholarships were awarded in 1963. The first two recipients were Melissa Ann Baker of Maryville, Tennessee (now Mrs. Ann Baker Furrow, a former member of the UT Board of Trustees) and Mr. Robert English Allen of Columbia, Tennessee. Neyland History page

SUMMARY

"People think I'm the greatest damn coach in the world," said the great Bear Bryant, "but Neyland taught me everything I know."

The Bear coached against Bob Neyland's Tennessee teams seven times and never beat him. "I never beat him," he said, "but I learned a lot from playing him."

General Robert Neyland was the architect responisble for building the University of Tennessee football program. Hired in 1926 with the sole task to "beat Vanderbilt", General Neyland transformed the fledgling Tennessee football program into the winning organization rich with tradition that Vol fans enjoy today.

In 1969, football's centennial year, Neyland finished second only to Knute Rockne as the greatest college coach in a poll of coaches. He coached 21 seasons, all at the University of Tennessee, winning 173 games while losing only 31 and tying 12. His .829 winning percentage is fifth all-time.

In Neylands first 7 years, 1926-1932, he lost one game in 1926, one game in 1930 and had one tie each of the other 5 years for a cumulative record of 61-2-5 (93.4%). The 3 consecutive and 5 out of 6 undefeated seasons is unmatched in the history of any current SEC team.

Neyland's teams owned much of their success to defense. He once explained that an offense can score only three ways, while a defense can score in four ways, on an interception, a fumble, a blocked kick, or a kick return. He added, "The psychological shock of being scored on in any of those ways is so profound that a team so scored on rarely is able to rally for victory."

Before coming to coach at Tennessee, the Texas-born Neyland was a cadet studying engineering at West Point. During this time, Neyland was an all-around athlete who could rival Jim Thorpe. He played end on the 1914 and 1915 Army football teams (winning the National Championship in 1914), won twenty straight games pitching for the baseball team (defeating Navy four times), and won the heavyweight boxing title three years in a row. To this day, he is still considered to be the greatest athlete to ever come out of West Point. He would later return to West Point in 1921 as an assistant adjutant and assistant coach in football, baseball, and basketball. He also served as aide-de-camp to Academy Superintendent General Douglas MacArthur.

Although hired by the University of Tennessee in 1926, he was still in active duty with the military. The General earned his Army rank, first by being sent to the Mexican border, and then in France during World War I. Duty would call Neyland to interrupt his coaching career again in 1935 to serve in the Panama Canal. After a short retirement from the service, he was called to duty once more when World War II broke out. Neyland finished his military service with the rank of Brigadier General. He was awarded the Legion of Merit with two clusters and the Distinguished Service Medal from the United States, the Chinese Cloud and Banner, and the British Knight Commander.

After winning the National Championship in 1951, The General stepped down from the head coaching position and served as UT's Athletic Director until his death in 1962. As AD, he laid out plans for expanding Tennessee's football stadium, which would grow from 3,200 at the time Neyland came to UT to over 100,000 after it's final expansion in 2000. The stadium, now one of the largest in America, is named in his honor.

SUPERLATIVES

• Elected to College Football Hall of Fame (1956)
• Won 4 National Championships (1951, 1950, 1940, 1938)
• Won 7 Conference Championships (1927, 1932, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1946, 1951)
• Coached 9 overall unbeaten seasons
• Produced 22 All-Americans and 40 All-SEC players
• First to coach in all 4 major bowls (Orange, Rose, Sugar, Cotton)
• Holds NCAA records for consecutive shutouts (17) and consecutive shutout quarters (71)
• Lost only 1 home game in 21 years
• Never coached a losing season
• Never had a losing record to any team he faced more than once
• Never lost to Bear Bryant