Johnny Majors, Legendary Tennessee & Pitt Football Coach, Dies At 85

Legendary University of Tennessee and University of Pittsburgh head football coach Johnny Majors died on Wednesday morning at 85. 

Majors led Pittsburgh to a national championship in 1976 going 12-0, five years after the Panthers went 1-10. After winning the national championship, Majors returned to his alma mater in Tennessee where he served as their head coach from 1977-1992. During which time the Volunteers won three SEC championships in 1985, 1989, and 1990. Majors also won SEC Coach of the Year in 1985.

In a statement released by his family, Majors’ wife Mary Lynn Majors announced the death of her husband of 61 years. “It’s with a sad heart that we make this announcement. John passed away this morning. He spent his last hours doing something he dearly loved: looking out over his cherished Tennessee River,” she said.

Majors was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1987. One of Majors’ former players, Charles Davis, commented on the passing of his former coach. “Coach Majors is Tennessee and Tennessee is him. I was fortunate to have played for him and to have been on that 1985 team that won the Sugar Bowl and brought us back in a lot of ways,” he said. “But that was his mission. It’s why he came back to Tennessee. He could have stayed at Pitt and kept kicking butt. But the bottom line is that Tennessee was home for him, and all of us who also consider Tennessee home are fortunate that he did come back.”

Both Tennessee and Pittsburgh posted on their social media accounts expressing their sadness in Majors’ passing.

Tennessee: