Tennessee football fans are hoping for a better National Signing Day in 2019. This year’s was a relative dud.

New coach Jeremy Pruitt, hired on Dec. 7, signed six players on Feb. 7 but whiffed on several high-profile recruits he and his staff were pursuing. He had signed 14 players during the first-ever early signing period Dec. 20-22.

2. Last Word: Soccer Returns, Confederate Reprisals and Megasite Politics - Tuesday, January 9, 2018

So much going on off the field and on parts of the field in Atlanta Monday evening as Alabama beat Georgia – a clothesline, a punch thrown on the field and an attempt to throw another punch on the sidelines at an Alabama coach and all of that from a single Alabama player. So a lot of speculation after the College Football Playoff National Championship about how that will be resolved. Alabama over Georgia 26-23 in overtime.

3. Turning The Page - Saturday, October 14, 2017

The Memphis Grizzlies still cling to their old grit-and-grind identity – at least for marketing purposes and perhaps a subconscious need for comfort and security. But they also decided now was the time they had to initiate transformative change.

4. A Season for Rethinking Options Makes Sense at This Point - Tuesday, August 22, 2017

After another first-round playoff exit this spring, a very direct question was put to All-Star center Marc Gasol:

Was he still dedicated to the Grizzlies, to seeing this franchise become the best it can be?

5. East is West but SEC Knows What’s Best - Friday, June 9, 2017

East is East and West is West – except where the Southeastern Conference is concerned.

The SEC politburo again has scoffed at the idea of adjusting its football divisions by true geographic standards, leaving Missouri, the third most westerly conference member in terms of longitude, in the Eastern Division.

6. Nashville Predators Crash Stanley Cup Finals - Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Just based on the fact that the Nashville Predators were the last team to sneak into the NHL playoffs this season, they have no (logical) right to be in the Stanley Cup Finals now. But they are. They clinched their spot with a 6-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals Monday, May 22, in Nashville.

7. Robinson Gives Mariota Weapons for Success - Friday, May 5, 2017

Just when we think we’ve figured out Titans G.M. Jon Robinson, he reinvents himself.

On the first night of the recent NFL Draft, we assumed Robinson would play it safe, trading the No. 5 overall pick to acquire more draft capital.

8. Slow Pace of AD Hire Typical of How UT Works - Friday, January 27, 2017

About the University of Tennessee’s athletics director search: What’s your hurry? It only took a little over five months after Dave Hart’s retirement announcement to start the process of hiring a search firm and finalizing a committee that will oversee the selection process. The last thing you want to do is rush things, right?

9. Final Goodbye: Roll Call of Some of Those Who Died in 2016 - Monday, January 2, 2017

Death claimed transcendent political figures in 2016, including Cuba's revolutionary leader and Thailand's longtime king, but also took away royals of a different sort: kings of pop music, from Prince and David Bowie to George Michael.

10. Memphis Football Bigger Than One Coach Or QB - Friday, December 16, 2016

As we count down to the University of Memphis playing in the Tuesday, Dec. 20, Boca Raton Bowl, I find myself recalling what athletics director Tom Bowen said when pressed about why Arizona State offensive coordinator Mike Norvell was the Tigers’ choice for head coach.

11. College Football Programs are Trending Toward Younger Hires - Wednesday, November 9, 2016

When searching for a new head football coach, schools have been showing more willingness to hire an up-and-comer like Tom Herman or P.J. Fleck, rather than a veteran with a long track record of success such as Les Miles.

12. Big 12 or No, There Soon Will Be Games to Play - Friday, August 5, 2016

This week’s cover story in The Memphis News is about Big 12 expansion and what it might mean for the University of Memphis to join a Power 5 league, and by extension what this could mean for the city of Memphis.

13. Believe It or Not - Saturday, June 18, 2016

Long before Jim Strickland was mayor of Memphis, he was a thirtysomething lawyer and sports fan. Not always in that order. He loved the University of Memphis – his alma mater – and rooted like crazy for the basketball team. And on those less frequent occasions when there was a reason to believe, for the football team, too.

14. Memphis Grizzlies Off The Grid As Record Rises - Friday, January 29, 2016

When the Memphis Grizzlies rolled out to that hot start last season and carried a 39-14 record into the All-Star break, they had created legitimate national buzz – perhaps for the first time ever during the course of an NBA regular season.

15. Curry Named President of Evaporcool - Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Chris Curry has been named president of Evaporcool Solutions LLC, a Memphis-based company whose proprietary Evaporcool System improves the energy efficiency of air conditioning and refrigeration units. In his new role, Curry will be responsible for leading all aspects of the company as it looks to aggressively expand its business.

16. Heat Really On for Jones Against Arkansas - Saturday, October 3, 2015

It’s been a long week for Tennessee football coach Butch Jones.

Kickoff can’t come soon enough for Jones and his staff Saturday night when the Vols (2-2, 0-1 SEC) play host to Arkansas (1-3, 0-1) at Neyland Stadium.

17. Despite Rhetoric, Florida Game Critical for Tennessee's Butch Jones - Saturday, September 26, 2015

Tennessee’s Butch Jones will coach the biggest game of his three-year tenure with the Vols – and probably the biggest of his entire coaching career – at Florida on Saturday.

Like it or not, Jones is carrying the weight of UT’s 10-game losing streak to Florida on his shoulders.

18. Reality Change - Saturday, May 23, 2015

“The ecosystem of the team is always live and is always shifting. You have to be able to adjust with whatever the situation might be at the time.”

– Marc Gasol

Roll those words from Marc Gasol over in your mind. Hold them up to the light so you can see them from every possible angle, so you can find hope, fear, inspiration, desperation and, last but not least, ambiguity and mystery.

19. Top 10 Recruiting Class Might Be Serrano’s Salvation - Saturday, May 23, 2015

Senior right-handed pitcher Will Neely, who opened the TSSAA Class AAA state tournament this week with a no-hitter and a 2-0 win against Bartlett, was the driving force behind Hardin Valley Academy’s run to its first-ever state tournament appearance.

20. Pushing Through the Mud, Grizz Start Fast Their Way - Friday, November 7, 2014

How early is it in this NBA season? Early enough that a coach will reach for a college football analogy.

“This is a team that we have struggled with, going 1-3 with them in our division, a.k.a. the SEC West in football, where we went 4-12 last year.”

21. Shooting Woes, Injuries Piling Up for Grizzlies - Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Even open shots, depending on who is taking them, are not necessarily a good option. So says coach Dave Joerger and, yes, that’s how bad the Grizzlies’ offense has become.

The Grizzlies mustered just 82 points in a 26-point loss to Golden State on Saturday, Dec. 7 at FedExForum, and it was most notable for the fact that, well, such losses are no longer notable.

22. Looking for Last Season’s Grizz to Make Appearance … Now - Friday, November 15, 2013

The Grizzlies are going out on a four-game road trip that starts with a Friday, Nov. 15, game in Los Angeles against the Lakers. Maybe a change of scenery will do them good. After a 3-5 start to the season that feels even worse than the record, a change of scenery is as good an idea as any.

23. Grizz Proving They Have a Lot to Prove - Friday, November 8, 2013

To the question, how patient are Grizzlies fans willing to be, we now have a definitive answer.

Their patience broke as the third quarter ended Wednesday, Nov. 6, at FedExForum. Their Grizzlies – that gritty, lovable bunch that won 56 games last season and went to the Western Conference Finals – trailed the New Orleans Pelicans by 22 points.

24. Grizz Hope to Extend Honeymoon Period - Friday, October 4, 2013

Marc Gasol got married during the offseason so, naturally, he was asked how he was enjoying married life.

“It’s not that different,” Gasol said. “We’re still in the honeymoon phase.”

What’s true for the Grizzlies’ All-Star center is true for the entire organization as the team prepares for its first season after the best season in franchise history.

25. Hollins Move Latest In New Grizz Plan - Friday, June 14, 2013

Lionel Hollins repeatedly said more than he should have. So it is only fitting that the end of Hollins’ tenure as coach of the Memphis Grizzlies was marked by deafening silence from franchise CEO Jason Levien and then, finally, a press release saying the franchise was going to “move in a different direction.”

26. Grizzlies Trying to Create Season to Remember - Friday, May 3, 2013

Disappointments past can set up unmitigated joy in the present. At its best, that’s how this whole sports fandom thing works.

You invest yourself emotionally (yes, perhaps financially, too) and if you hold the stock (your loyalty) long enough, there’s a nice payoff.

27. Clippers’ Bench Spells Trouble for Grizzlies - Friday, April 19, 2013

The Los Angeles Clippers may or may not prove to be serious Western Conference title contenders. Count TNT analyst Charles Barkley as their No. 1 doubter, having called them “fool’s gold” and compared them to a pretty girl that steals your heart only for you to discover she is “dumb as a box of rocks.”

28. BCS as We Know it is Going Away - Tuesday, January 10, 2012

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The Bowl Championship Series as college football fans have come to know it is going away.

Over the next six months, the people who oversee the much-maligned postseason format will talk about how to reconstruct the system for crowning a national champion. In the tumultuous 14-year history of the BCS, the appetite for change among college football's leaders has never been stronger.

29. Humphreys Joins Keller Williams Realty - Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Herbo Humphreys has joined the Crump Realty Group of Keller Williams Realty. Humphreys previously worked as a project supervisor for Bryan-Turley Properties.

30. Financial Federal Helps Western Power Sports Grow - Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Financial Federal Savings Bank has announced a pair of financing deals for Western Power Sports Inc. of Boise, Idaho.

31. Social Media Icons - Monday, March 29, 2010

It’s been 46 years since Marshall McLuhan declared, “The medium is the message.”

In that time, the visionary media critic’s five-word analysis has been debated and interpreted in ways even he likely couldn’t imagine.