Legendary Tennessee Coach and Player Johnny Majors, Dies at 85

Johnny Majors, a legendary coach for the Tennessee football team and member of the College Football Hall of Fame, has died. He was 85.

Jackie Sherrill, a longtime friend of Majors’ who worked on staff with him at Pittsburgh, confirmed the news with Majors’ family.

In 16 seasons as Tennessee’s coach from 1977-92, Majors compiled a 116-62-8 record.

He began his playing career with the Vols in 1953, joining the team as a single-wing tailback. He was named the SEC Player of the Year in 1955 and 1956.  

In 1973, he left to become coach at Pittsburgh and won a national championship in 1976 with a perfect 12-0 record. He received national coach-of-the-year honors following that season.

In 1977, he returned to Knoxville as Tennessee’s head coach. Over a 15-year career, he led the Vols to three SEC championships (1985, 1989, 1990). He also won the Sugar Bowl in 1986 and 1991. 

Majors and UT parted ways in 1992, when he returned to Pittsburgh for three years. After retiring from coaching in 1996, he served as the assistant athletic director and chancellor at Pittsburgh until 2007. 

He was inducted into the Pittsburgh Athletics Hall of Fame.

About Brad Jones

Brad is the Owner/Operator of BBB TV 12, and has been with the company since August of 1996. Brad is a 1987 graduate of Coalfield High School and a 1995 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Communications. He won the 1995 broadcast production student of the year award. Brad worked at Shop at Home, Inc. a home shopping network that was located in Knoxville, TN from 1993 - 1995 and then at Via TV (RSTV, Inc.) from 1995 - 1996. After some freelance work in Nashville, Brad joined the BBB Communications staff in August of 1996. A short stint at WVLT TV as a news photographer was in 2001, but he continued to work at BBB TV as well. Brad is married to Nicole Jenkins Jones, a 1990 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, who works at Oak Ridge Gastroenterology and Associates in Oak Ridge. They have 3 kids, Trevor Bogard, 27, Chandler 22, and Naomi 13. On December 12, 2013 they welcomed their first grandchild, Carter Ryan Bogard. Brad is also the assistant boys basketball coach at Coalfield High School for the past 11 years. In 2013-14 the Yellow Jackets won their first district title since 1991 and just the 4th in school history.

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