Tennessee football isn’t what it used to be. Nor is the attraction of being UT’s football coach.

It became more and more apparent this week as first-year UT athletics director John Currie tried to hire his first football coach as an AD.

2. For Now, Memphis a College Football Oasis - Monday, November 27, 2017

Tony Pollard was taking another kick return from one end zone to another. Quarterback Riley Ferguson and wideout Anthony Miller were hooking up for an 89-yard touchdown on the Memphis Tigers’ first play from scrimmage. And safety Jonathan Cook was playing pick-six.

3. Josh Pastner Under NCAA Microscope - Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Former University of Memphis basketball coach Josh Pastner has been accused of being complicit in extra benefits provided to at least two Georgia Tech players and to former Tiger player Markel Crawford.

4. In No-Nonsense Business Of SEC, Bottom Line is Bottom Line - Friday, October 6, 2017

That red Pontiac Fiero. Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin had one back in the day.

“Remember those things?” Sumlin said before the season, answering a question about his job security and recalling his career’s humble beginnings. “They caught fire in the back and all that other stuff.”

5. Deadspin Likes Memphis More Than AP, Coaches Polls Do - Wednesday, September 20, 2017

As great as the 48-45 victory over then-No. 25 UCLA was, as nice as it has been to hear the University of Memphis getting national mentions, the Tigers have work to do. Maybe more than you’d imagine.

6. Breather for Vols Before Traveling to Florida - Friday, September 8, 2017

Get ready for another thrill ride, Tennessee fans. Your football team is at it again, just like last year.

Tennessee needed a comeback and overtime to beat Appalachian State in its 2016 season opener. The Vols needed comebacks to beat Virginia Tech and Florida and got a Hail Mary touchdown pass as time ran out to beat Georgia.

7. SEC Hot Seat Index: From Saban to Sumlin - Friday, July 21, 2017

When it comes to Southeastern Conference football coaches, there are three kinds of seats – hot, hotter and hottest.

There is, of course, one exception. You guessed it.

Nick Saban. To quote the late ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, Saban’s seat is as cool as the other side of your pillow.

8. Sports Notebook: Grizz Moves Bring Tyreke Evans Back to Memphis - Monday, July 10, 2017

The Memphis Grizzlies continued changing their roster for the upcoming season by agreeing to a one-year contract with free agent guard Tyreke Evans.

Evans, according to ESPN, will make $3.3 million on the one-year deal. Evans, 27, played one year for the University of Memphis and then was the fourth overall pick in the 2009 draft by the Sacramento Kings.

9. SEC Ready to Tee Up Media Days; UT’s AD Raises the Bar - Monday, March 6, 2017

It’s almost time to kick off the 2017 college football season. And by that we mean that SEC Media Days should again be flagged for encroachment on summer.

The conference has not yet jumped in front of the Fourth of July, but SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama, continues to move ever closer to summer’s signature date.

10. SEC Grades: ‘A’ for Alabama; UT, Ole Miss Should Be Grounded - Friday, December 2, 2016

Even as the Ole Miss football program was reeling from an NCAA investigation that gained momentum on the night of the NFL Draft when a former player said he received money from a staff member, optimism about the season ahead was still high.

11. SEC Dominance Firmly Planted in the West - Friday, October 28, 2016

Based on the eye test as well as what has transpired on the field, I think it’s pretty safe to say Alabama is the best team in the SEC.

Who’s No. 2? I’ll take Texas A&M, which actually led the Crimson Tide 14-13 early in the second half last weekend before ultimately falling 33-14.

12. For the First Time This Season, Vols Set to Play as Underdog - Friday, October 7, 2016

You almost can feel Tennessee is a football team of destiny as the most difficult games of the schedule loom Saturday at Texas A&M and Oct. 15 against Alabama at Neyland Stadium.

There aren’t many successful Hail Mary passes, but the Vols got one last Saturday and beat Georgia 34-31 in Athens. Tennessee trailed Georgia 17-0 in the first half.

13. Looks Like 10-2, SEC Title Game, Orange Bowl for UT - Monday, September 5, 2016

Editor’s note: Nashville sports correspondent Dave Link has been accurate in predicting season outcomes for the Tennessee Vols in recent years. His 2016 season predictions, released just before press time, culminates with an SEC Championship appearance. Here’s his take on the season…

14. Once QB Country, SEC Now Has Only A Few Proven Players at the Position - Friday, August 26, 2016

At SEC Media Days this summer in Hoover, Ala., the 14 head coaches brought along more starting offensive linemen (5) than starting quarterbacks (3). Such is the state of the most high profile position in the Southeastern Conference at the beginning of the 2016 college football season.

15. Aggies DE Garrett: Talented And ‘Low Maintenance’ - Friday, August 19, 2016

He’s a first-team All-American, possibly could be the first pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and his head coach has called him “low maintenance.”

Perhaps the college football gods believe Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin had suffered enough, first with Johnny Manziel – a guy dubbed Johnny Football never qualifies as low-maintenance – and then with the Aggies’ infamous quarterback exodus.

16. Safe to Scorching: SEC Coaches Feel the Burn - Friday, August 12, 2016

There are two kinds of football coaches in the Southeastern Conference: those that have gotten fired and those that haven’t gotten fired – yet.

This is a conference in a constant state of flux for football. The average tenure at their current schools of the 14 SEC coaches is 3.57 years. That’s right: Just making it through a full four-year recruiting cycle is tough.

17. Ole Miss Rebels Prove Their Worth, Rewarded With Rankings Boost - Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Underdogs sometimes receive great pre-game speeches. But in the Ole Miss locker room Saturday, Sept. 18, at Bryant-Denny Stadium, there was no sense that the Rebels were about to try and make a miracle, or that it would take one to beat then-No. 2-ranked Alabama.

18. Alabama Still Team to Beat, Tennessee On the Rise in 2015 Football Season - Friday, August 14, 2015

Dak Prescott, the best returning quarterback in the Southeastern Conference, isn’t buying the national narrative that the league is “down” because the first College Football Playoff title game featured Ohio State beating Oregon.

19. Steve Spurrier Pokes Fun at Tennessee, Arkansas - Wednesday, July 15, 2015

HOOVER, ALA. – South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier wasted no time taking his first jabs at other SEC schools. As he made his opening remarks at SEC Media Days Tuesday, July 14, at The Wynfrey Hotel, he spoke of the joy he and his team felt by rallying at season’s end to get to a bowl game, then win the Independence Bowl against Miami and finish 7-6.

20. Liberty Bowl Promises Lots of Offense - Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Dec. 29 AutoZone Liberty Bowl matches a pair of offenses that play at two speeds: fast and blurry.

“Both teams need to get to bed early because there’s going to be a lot of plays in this game,” Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said, noting their no-huddle, up-tempo styles.

21. Mississippi State Finds Itself in Historic Times - Wednesday, October 15, 2014

In the 78-year history of the Associated Press college football poll, it had never happened. A team that was unranked at season’s start had never ascended to the top spot.

Now, Mississippi State has made that history as the Bulldogs climbed to No. 1, leaping from being tied at No. 3 with Ole Miss to go in front of former No. 1 Florida State. This was the reward after beating then-No. 2 Auburn 38-23 last Saturday.

22. Ole Miss, Memphis Move on to Next Hurdles - Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Before they played the game, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze suggested it amounted to the “Super Bowl” for the University of Memphis. But in many respects it was more of a Blooper Bowl for both teams.

23. SEC’s New Quarterbacks Ready to Prove Themselves - Friday, August 22, 2014

They are the SEC quarterbacks left behind. The quarterbacking gods, with names like Manziel, McCarron, Mettenberger and Murray – what is it about M’s? – have ascended to a higher place: playing on Sundays in the NFL.

24. Bigger, Better, Louder - Saturday, August 16, 2014

“When it comes to college football, the South has no equal, because the Southeastern Conference has no equal. Find me a conference with a better commissioner, better players, better head coaches, better staffs, better game-day atmospheres, better-looking coeds – better anything.”

25. SEC Media Days Notebook: July 15 - Wednesday, July 16, 2014

HOOVER, Ala. – South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier has been at this college coaching game a long time. He also had a stint in the NFL. And a college program’s big boosters, he said, are “similar to an owner in the NFL because they put the money up.”

26. College Football Notebook: October 18, 2013 - Friday, October 18, 2013

History. That’s what the latest Associated Press Top 25 college football poll represents after eight SEC teams made the rankings. According to the AP’s Ralph D. Russo, no conference has ever placed that many teams in the regular-season poll.

27. SEC Gaining Reputation as QB Factory - Friday, September 13, 2013

When No. 1 Alabama and No. 6 Texas A&M clash in College Station this Saturday, much of the pre-game hype will fall on the starting quarterbacks. Forget, for a moment, the off-the-field stuff with the Aggies’ Johnny Manziel. Just think about on the field, him running around and making plays, him winning the Heisman Trophy last season as a freshman.

28. Mean Streets - Saturday, August 31, 2013

Alabama’s Nick Saban can walk anywhere he wants in the Southeastern Conference – college football’s roughest neighborhood – and no one can lay a finger on him.

His teams have won the national championship in three of the last four years. Overall, SEC teams have won the title seven consecutive years and the league is a dream destination for head coaches – until it turns into a grinding, weekly nightmare.

29. Johnny Football Frenzy Knows No Bounds - Friday, July 19, 2013

HOOVER, Ala. – This being SEC Media Days and him being Johnny Football, the blitz was inevitable. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel moved from room to room while grown men and women toting microphones, cameras and tape recorders pursued him like so many bad actors fulfilling the clichéd media moment in a made-for-TV movie.