Tennessee Athletics has lost its way, but who is to blame?
By Janie Brice
American writer Rita Mae Brown defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. For Volunteers, that’s called being a dedicated fan.
This week has been a tumultuous yet eye-opening moment in Tennessee athletics history. Following the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, the Lady Vols Basketball team lost every single player on the roster, dwindling to just one recruit. Earlier in the season, fifth-year senior Kaiya Wynn quit after refusing to go into the senior night game with just 15 seconds left.
Following their elimination in the Elite Eight, seven men’s basketball players entered the transfer portal, including stars J.P Estrella, Cade Phillips, and Bishop Boswell
28 football players transferred out, with only 21 transferring in. Oh, and the baseball team is 4-8 in SEC play. $108 million for Lindsay Nelson Stadium, and students are getting heatstroke in Reese Hall.
If you were to ask me who the face of Tennessee athletics was in the 90s, I would obviously say Peyton Manning. 2000s? Candace Parker. 2010s? Josh Dobbs. Early 2020s? Hendon Hooker and Zakai Zeigler.
Today? Well, that’s a really good question. I’ll have to think about it.
Maybe the problem is winning. Athletes want to win so they can play professionally, so of course, the stars are going to leave if their team isn’t winning.
Defensive back Boo Carter transferred to the Colorado Buffaloes at the end of the 2025 season. The Buffaloes were 3-9 last season. The odds of being drafted to the NFL from college football is 1.6%. The odds of being drafted to the NBA from college basketball is 1.2%.
Ok, so if the goal isn’t winning or being drafted, maybe we should follow the money. With NIL, college athletes are pocketing millions of dollars without commitment or weight tying them to a program. Former Tennessee Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, ever so unpopularly, left for UCLA after his negotiations for more money failed. And he’s making only about two-thirds of what he did at Tennessee.
So, maybe it’s a leadership problem. Are the coaches and Athletic Director Danny White to blame? ESPN Reporter Holly Rowe certainly thought so in a since-deleted tweet about the devastating 16-14 Lady Vols Basketball season:
“What Danny White is allowing to happen to @LadyVol_Hoops is making me so sad. Gut-wrenching to watch him let one of the greatest programs in women’s sports history disintegrate. I am devastated.”
Recalling the triumph of women’s basketball under Pat Summitt, not just a victory for the Lady Vols, but for women’s sports as a whole, it is difficult to see the culture crumble. Current Lady Vols Coach Kim Caldwell is a divisive character, some jumping to her defense as she calls her team quitters, and others bashing her when they did just that.
True Volunteer fans have tasted the sting of defeat for decades, and they spit it out and keep cheering. Insanity.
It’s time for some accountability. Players don’t want to be here. Money attracts, but culture keeps. UT reeks of corporate synergy. The entire school is a billboard: Southern culture, city living, erratic nightlife, unbeatable fan energy. Oh, and we do offer classes, too.
The athletes are a number on the roster, and that’s it. They’re shapeless names on the back of a jersey with a few stats and maybe a camera shot to their family in the stands. The reason Zeigler was such a standout was that he felt real.
He was someone you could expect to see at a campus event or city fundraiser. Money raised by fans bought a house for his family in Knoxville after a fire destroyed their apartment in New York City. Hell, I saw him at the Knoxville Zoo once while I was dressed up as a pirate for the Boo at the Zoo Halloween event.
If I were to attribute a color to the current athletes at Tennessee, that color would be grey. I know your name, your class standing, and maybe even where your family travels from for each game to cheer you on. But there’s no connection.
Student athletes live a completely separate existence on campus. The focus is on your sport when the odds are that no one will hear from you again after you graduate.
Pointing fingers is easy: there will always be a scapegoat to explain why Tennessee can’t keep players. But the truth is, there is a deeper issue within the culture. With players chasing money and coaches failing to uphold a proper team environment, Tennessee Athletics will continue to crumble.
Being a Tennessee fan does not mean expecting a win. There are 138 D1 football teams, 350 D1 men’s basketball teams, 360 D1 women’s basketball teams, and 304 D1 baseball teams. The odds of winning are very small.
It has to be about more than winning.
Being a Vol is insanity. Try over and over again, doing the same thing and expecting a different result. And being elated every time.