KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -John Majors, who coached Pittsburgh to a football national championship in 1976, starred as a player at Tennessee in the 1950s and then later returned to his alma mater as coach to lead the Vols back to national prominence, died Wednesday morning. He was 85.
The Majors family released a statement to announce the death of Majors, whose name will forever be intertwined with the University of Tennessee and the entire state.
“It’s with a sad heart that we make this announcement,” said Mary Lynn Majors, his wife of 61 years. “John passed away this morning. He spent his last hours doing something he dearly loved: looking out over his cherished Tennessee River.”
Majors, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1987, was the runner-up to Paul Hornung for the Heisman Trophy in 1956. Gen. Robert Neyland once referred to Majors as the “greatest single-wing tailback in Tennessee history.”
As a head coach, Majors rebuilt three programs at Iowa State, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. He led the Vols to three SEC championships, including their first in 16 years in 1985. Majors returned to Tennessee in 1977 the year after leading Pitt to a national championship and guided the Tennessee program through the end of the 1992 regular season when he was forced out as head coach.
Majors compiled a 185-137-10 record as a head coach and was named national coach of the year three times during his career. Majors’ coaching tree includes 33 assistant coaches who later became head coaches in either the college or professional ranks.