As SEC adds Texas and Oklahoma, here's a history between the rival UTs | Mike Strange
For more than a year, the Southeastern Conference has been clearing a space for two new members. Next week, they move in.
On July 1, Texas and Oklahoma become more than recruiting rivals and occasional postseason obstacles. They’re full-blooded adversaries in the standings.
Commissioner Greg Sankey is the main architect of this annexation that rattled the college landscape. But in the case of Texas, Tennesseans like to look at the longer view.
Way back, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston were willing to take on a road game in Texas. The Knoxville university’s athletic teams aren’t called the Volunteers because of a tradition of staffing rural fire departments.
But I digress.
Soon, I’ll look at the Vols’ history with Oklahoma. Today, the relationships between the two UTs.
The Vols and Longhorns won’t meet on the 2024 football schedule – unless it’s in the SEC championship game. Their history is confined to three Cotton Bowls: 1951, 1953, 1969.
Tennessee won the first, a springboard to a 1951 national championship season. Texas claimed the other two. Robert Neyland’s final game was a 16-0 loss.
Neyland, the legend that towers over Tennessee football, was a Texan. He and his successors recruited the state, to middling results.
The 1951 and 1998 national champions each had a starter from Texas. The 1985 Sugar Vols had four lettermen from the same town, DeSoto: Tim Hendrix, Troy Hale, Wes Pryor and Brian Hunt.
This century, lineman Cody Douglas and receiver Denarius Moore stood out.
On the current roster, three Texans used the transfer portal to get here. Receiver Chris Brazzell came from Tulane, Jermod McCoy via Oregon State. Offensive lineman Andrej Karic played two years for the Longhorns themselves.
Come basketball season, there’s more meat on the bone.
When the Vols needed a new men’s coach in 2015, Texas cooperated by firing Rick Barnes after 17 years. Tennessee snatched him up. Two SEC titles, a No. 1 ranking and six straight NCAA tournaments followed.
Two wins over Texas helped put Bruce Pearl’s Vols on the map. When Barnes’ Vols beat the Longhorns in the NCAA tournament in March, it tipped the series 5-4 Tennessee’s way.
The Vols haven’t had great success recruiting in Texas, but Brandon Crump scored 1,267 points in the Buzz Peterson era.
The Texas women under coach Jody Conradt were a major rival in the era when Pat Summitt was building a powerhouse. They were undefeated 1986 national champs.
Tennessee leads the series 26-16. Several blue-chip Texas recruits helped. Tamika Catchings and Meighan Simmons rank Nos. 4 and 5 in Lady Vols’ scoring. Jill Rankin and Ashley Robinson were good post players.
Kim Caldwell’s first Lady Vols roster includes a pair of Texans, Jewel Spear and Kaiya Wynn.
The Vols and Longhorns have tangled sporadically in baseball, usually in early-season tournaments. The most recent meeting, Texas eliminated Tennessee from the 2021 College World Series, 8-4.
Softball has seen some high-stakes meetings. In 2023, the Lady Vols swept Texas in a Knoxville super regional. At the 2013 Women’s College World Series, Tennessee beat the Longhorns to advance to the championship series.
Texans Aubrey Leach and Chelsea Seggern have been recent Tennessee stars.
Jaida Thomas, a Texan, this fall could become Lady Vols soccer’s all-time leading scorer. Women’s tennis coach Alison Ojeda is from San Antonio.
The availability of Barnes could be karma for the mid-1980s, when Texas hired away both Stan Huntsman (men) and Terry Crawford (women), each of whom had coached national champion teams at Tom Black Track.
Tennessee volleyball, finally, is 1-10 against Texas, but they haven’t met since 1992. That’s about to change.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: As SEC adds Texas and Oklahoma, what's the UT vs. UT history?
