At the lowest point of Tennessee's current baseball season, I began to wonder if this was more than just a bad team.
Its failure bordered on biblical against Vanderbilt, which swept three games by a staggering 39-5 count two weeks ago. What was next? Locusts descending on the outfield?
No, just a 16-5 thumping from Mississippi State. Two more losses to the Bulldogs, and three consecutive losses to LSU this weekend reduced the Vols to 5-22 in the SEC and raised the question: Could this be the worst team in UT history?
Don't limit the debate to baseball. Include football and basketball as well.
Could this be UT's worst team ever?
Answer: A resounding "no."
In fact, after minimal research, I apologize for my knee-jerk overreaction, triggered by the series of mishaps against Vanderbilt. Even if the Vols end their season with three consecutive losses to Auburn this week, they don't belong in the conversation of "worst team ever."
A little research also puts the Vols' current plight in all sports in perspective. No one expects them to contend for an SEC championship in football, basketball or baseball next season. But things have been a lot worse on the field and court, as my all-time Bottom 10 will illustrate.
1. Football, 1909: Don't let the 1-6-2 record fool you. The Vols opened the season by tying Centre 0-0 and finished the year with a 0-0 tie against Chattanooga and a whopping 11-0 victory over Transylvania.
But they were shut out in every other game and outscored 113-11 for the season, which begs the question: "Was Dave Clawson's great-grandfather the offensive coordinator?"
2. Football, 1906: Another team with a misleading 1-6-2 record. The Vols were outscored 127-15, and lost back-to-back games to Maryville and Centre as well as to Sewanee and Kentucky A&M.
The 1909 team gets a slight edge because of its five consecutive shutout losses down the stretch.
3. Basketball, 1927-28: This team received strong consideration for No. 1 based on its 0-12 record and light drizzle of an offense, which supposedly was an early model of the same offense Kevin O'Neill implemented at UT in the mid-1990s.
But these Vols didn't suffer enough blowout losses. Five of their games were decided by single-digit margins.
4. Football, 1893: It finished 2-4 by winning its last two games against Maryville and something called "Asheville Ath.," according to the UT media guide. But no other UT team ever put together four consecutive losses of this magnitude - 56-0, 64-0, 70-0 and 60-0.
5. Basketball, 1993-94: The 5-22 record (2-14, SEC) speaks for itself. But like the 1927-28 team, it played too many close games to justify being ranked higher. The Vols didn't lose a conference game by more than 19 points.
6. Baseball, 1958: The season didn't start until March then, but that was still too early for this bunch, which didn't win its first game until April 16 and finished 2-13 (1-10).
7. Baseball, 1989: An 8-5 start offered no clue where this team was headed. It finished 23-36 overall and 4-23 in the conference after losing nine consecutive games, including the last eight by a 74-14 margin.
8. Basketball, 1961-62: This team went 4-19 (2-12) and finished with nine consecutive losses. It would be ranked higher if it had played a lesser schedule (only two of its 11 non-conference games were against teams from what are now non-BCS schools).
9. Basketball, 1917-18: It finished 3-9-1, beat only one team outside the state of Tennessee and never scored more than 26 points in a game.
10. Baseball, 2011: The Vols are 5-22 in SEC play (23-28 overall), have lost 11 consecutive SEC games and been outscored 97-21 in their last nine conference games. But if they can win one of three games against Auburn this week, the 1987 baseball team (17-27, 5-18) would replace them in the Bottom 10.
Other teams receiving consideration: the 2-5 football team of 1892, the 21-29 baseball team of 1988, the 2-6 basketball team of 1918-19, Todd Raleigh's first two baseball teams, all three of O'Neill's basketball teams, and Wade Houston's teams of 1990-91 and 1992-93.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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Comments » 51
RoadTrip writes:
Great. A fluff piece about bad UT teams to smooth over the sting from having a really good baseball program prior to the dismal failure of the TR experiement.
philgreen5#410561 writes:
I don't think anybody cares about the teams 100 years ago, this has to be one of the worst in the modern era, they are not even competitive.
Ironcity writes:
This team s not UT's worst ever, they just play like it. Looking forward to the next coach.
stormblast writes:
No. This team is worse. Sugar coating it with times when Transylvania fielded a team & Sewanee was a national powerhouse changes nothing.
The bottom line is this is the worst time in UT sports history. With possibly three new headcoaches in a little over a year (if Raleigh is let go) pretty much states where we're at.
Too much money goes into the university to have such a bad team baseball, with a coach that has had enough tenure. This baseball team is poorly coached and the program is poorly directed.
Tennessee - fans, boosters, players, etc deserve better.
Prostar writes:
Totally unacceptable. Surely Phil Garner, Todd Helton or other well placed alumni know a very good baseball coach that could come and rescue us. I thought last year that TR deserved another year to produce, well, the year is up and he has been a dismal failure. Our AD hasn't had any trouble keeping his mouth shut about the baseball team. Hamilton you know what has to be done, so do it.
SuckTheseVols98 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
FWBVol writes:
I won't debate whether or not this is the worst team in Tennessee history, but there is no debat that Todd Raleigh has been an unrivaled failure as the Tennessee baseball coach and he must go.
SuckTheseVols98 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
VolFaninDC writes:
Yeah, let's let Hammy pick yet ANOTHER coach. That guy has absolutely decimated the entire Athletic Department and UT's reputation.
99gator writes:
the tennessee writer is writing about the tennessee baseball team.
when you get beat worse than rodney king every night, you give the writer little choice.
you might want to think about redirecting your anger from the man writing about the team to the men running the team and the athletic department.
eduardo writes:
WORST COACH EVER???
FearlessFreep writes:
Worst hire ever. We've become Western Carolina.
This one is squarely on MH. No one else.
flatrock writes:
Surely the worst dressed team in collegiate history.
HooRay_Vol writes:
Did you really think that by reading the title of the article it would have been about the most successful teams?
The article was very well written and had a lot of interesting historical facts about UT sports programs. It is VERY MUCH related to the current state of UT baseball......very sub par program that is in need of change.
Raleigh writes:
Hey Everyone pipe down and listen to coach. While my team may not be the worst ever, I certainly deserve the distinction of being UT's worst COACH ever. Please give credit where credit is due. You may now continue with your diatribe against me.
Raleigh writes:
Any of you guys out there in post-land want to volunteer your services to play for my crappy team? Anyone want to volunteer to take over for me as coach? Who volunteers to fire me? I don't see Hamster as being much of a volunteer.
dvhill100 writes:
Sigh. It's come to this in UT sports, we have an article telling us this year's baseball team isn't the worst team of any UT sports in about 100 years.
Yes, Mr. Stalin, you and Mr. Hitler feel free to debate who is the worst human being in history. You both tied for first.
SuckTheseVols98 writes:
No, thats why I didnt read the whole article. Skim reading sufficed to show the entire article was completely negative! I personally hurt inside reading garbage like this, hearing about my team's worst seasons! Ya sure it may relate to the current team but why not write about potential replacements for CTR? Or how could we improve the current team (ya I realize it's more than one area)? I dont want to read about something I can look up in a stat book of "Make a bama Fan Smile".
GO VOLS!!!
us43137415#376444 writes:
No dude.. he has written many, many other articles that are much worse than this one.
SummittsCourt writes:
I keep waking up each day hoping to see the line "Raleigh fired at Tennessee" but it hasn't happened yet. The fact that he is still the coach tells me hammy knows nothing about baseball just like he knows nothing about football or basketball.
He can fire Fulmer in the season and basically admit he was going to fire Pearl before the season ended, why is he letting raleigh stay on any longer?
Raleigh writes:
I don't think your comment is fair to Western Carolina.
volman444 writes:
worst basbeball coach and worst AD in our history. not even close. keep writing Adams. Hammy has gone into seclusion.
arkyvol writes:
if hammy gives his homey one more year, what are the odds that next years team will be the worst in tennessee history?
volgrog#210164 writes:
If this isn't the worst team ever, the worst team ever would only lose to this one by a run.
VolzsFan writes:
Many seem to. That is why the erected a statue to some football coach over there that actually won those games vs. Maryville, Centre, Translvania and some school named Asheville Ath. something. On one hand no one cares about the bad old things. Yet they all love a coach that played in era when the schedule was a joke, the stands had about 15K in them, no TV or radio and nothing but white boys. Be consistent.
Funny how all those bad baseball teams where pre and post Rod. Nice job Hammy....you idiot.
madmax22 writes:
John Adams' articles have become as bad as Todd Raleigh's post game excuses. Adams is a bad writer and Raleigh is a bad coach. Time for Scripps and UT to collaborate and make a change. Send Adams back to LSU and Raleigh back to WCU. Of course I am sure neither school wants them back.
brentrod writes:
it's hard to compare how bad teams are in different sports. it's also hard to endure the times when you have nothing better to talk about than the worst teams in the history of the athletic department.
watchdog writes:
Don't forget about the all-important sense of timing. Why do something on a slow news day when we can have a firing, say, an hour before the Lady Vols softball team is playing in a Super Regional with a trip to the World Series on the line.
easleychuck writes:
I would bet that JA was wetting himself doing the research for this article. Coming up with the all-time worst UT teams is his dream come true.
His only disappointment is that he could not squeeze in a Fulmer coached team in the rankings.
And remember it is all 'Mike Hamilton's fault'.
A1A writes:
Let's face it folks...we have been embarrassed on the diamond this year and we suck. What do you want Adams to do...tell us we had a little bit of an off year, but hey, let's all feel warm and fuzzy inside and hope for a better season next year?
This is a news site, and if you don't want to hear biting criticism...or even the sarcastic cynicism of John Adams in his opinion pieces, then you should probably be reading a blog or other sugar coated fluff.
The way I see it, Adams is doing his part to be the proverbial "devil's advocate," and there ain't nothing wrong with a little "horseradish" in your "ketchup."
vick3333 writes:
Adams, you have proven again, you know nothing about sports....baseball?...you have never seen a UT baseball game, unless it was an all expense paid trip to the College World Series! Are they still using wood bats?
FWBVol writes:
The General scheduled about like every other football coach did in his generation. Yes, there were a lot of schools on the schedule that, by today's standards are unthinkable, but times were different.
You couldn't hop on a jet and fly from Knoxville to California or Oregon for a game and make it a two-day trip. It would take at least two days to get there by train and another two days to get back.
Rather than dwelling on the weak teams Tennessee, and others, played during the General's era, look at how Tennessee did against Alabama, Mississippi, Vanderbilt and other conference teams and he still is a Hall of Fame coach.
That said, Raleigh's baseball teams can't beat the Weak Sisters of the Blind. His coaching takes ineptitude to another level of low.
Volunatic writes:
Neyland's first year at UT was 1926. I don't think the Vols played Maryville, Centre, Transylvania, or "Asheville Ath" during his career as UT's coach.
Volunatic writes:
Horseradish in the ketchup goes well with shrimp.
The_Real_Orange writes:
According to the record books the Vols played those teams on into the 30s & 40s. Comparing football back then to nowadays is comparing apples to oranges though. Any records prior to the 70s should be understood that it wasn't anything like modern football.
CoverOrange writes:
Well, Ham has hired a football coach from a Tech school, a basketball coach from a State school. Guess the next hire would be from a directional school. Oh, wait, he did that with his first hire. What's next? Is there a Western State Tech school out there? Or how about a bi-directional school? Does Northwestern have a baseball team?
vol73 writes:
First Kiffin, then Pearl, now Raleigh. A definite pattern that points at the AD. He is the one that needs to go
stratocaster54 writes:
Fire Mike!
bspurlingcac#225603 writes:
The natural follow up to this...would be THE ALL TIME GREATEST TEAM'S IN TENNESSEE HISTORY!!! Don't hold your breath for that one.
A1A writes:
Well...I was thinking more in terms of Adams being the horseradish...but shrimp works too.
Look...I'm no Adams fan, but I just don't see the reason for calling him out when he doesn't paint the landscape a beautiful orangy hue.
No one has ever improved their "game" without a certain level of criticism...constructive or otherwise. Sometimes that criticism comes as a scathing look at where you are in relation to other horrible times. I mean to tell an AD and a coach, and maybe a few self-righteous players, that you didn't suck as bad as they did in 19whogivesasquat...but you almost did...and then publish it for the world to see? Dang...that's incentive for me to try to do better...just sayin.
Peace and GBO!
Brac_Jack writes:
Did anyone see the games against LSU this week- end? To me, this is the worst UT baseball team I have ever seen. I am 63 years old and damn tired of Mike Hamilton and his hires. I have give up my football season tickets and will not support this BAD program. Get rid of Mike Hamilton!
Volunatic writes:
I don't disagree with you. I was just thinking about food when I wrote that.
NO_DIGGITY writes:
Ignorant Post. You fail to mention that same football coach also played teams that were good in that Era like Bama, GA Tech, Texas, USC, Oklahoma, Miss St, Duke (yes they were good once). He won 173 games (106 by shutout) with white boys playing against other white boys. Just a sign of the times. Early Attendence was 15,000 becasue the stadium held 15,000. There were no games on TV because there were no TV's. Before you show your ignorance by posting, please check your facts.
Bigger_Al writes:
I should have trusted my instinct and skipped this article. Negativity spawns deflation of the spirit. Of course, just seeing the Baseball headlines does the same thing.
A1A writes:
yeah...kind figured your comment was in good fun. My original intent in the mediocre analogy was to say that when you mix a little bitter in with the sweet that you get something tangy. I just don't get all these folks calling Adams a traitor and a negative nancy just because he doesn't always showcase the Vols in the best light. I guess some would have it go as follows:
Monday, May 16, 2011, 8:00 am - Headline - "All is beautiful in Vol land...more at 11..."
Monday, May 16, 2011, 11:00 pm - Headline - "All is still beautiful in Vol land."
...and so on.
If all was sweet and wonderful, we'd have nothing to talk about...just sayin'
Peace and GBO!
halloffamebowler writes:
Easy on the language there Son. No need for that kind of talk.
brokendownoldvol writes:
How about the 2008 football team?
VolunteerLifer writes:
If a team makes you wonder if its the worst ever, then it might as well be.
eVOLved writes:
thanks snarky!
MilitaryBrat writes:
Because he never (or rarely) showcases the Vols in a good light.
There is a difference in being Unbias, and telling the truth about our Team.
Then always being bias against the Vols.
It's funny that Adams talks good about our rivals, but can't seem to do the same for Tennessee.
Personally, I think he is bitter that he can't cover a team that he actually likes (because he isn't good enough), and he has it too good here, to leave.
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