Bill Battle

Bill Battle began his coaching career in 1964 as an assistant coach at Army for two seasons. In 1966 he was hired as an assistant at the University of Tennessee, and prior to the 1970 season Battle was promoted to head coach of the Volunteers. He was Tennessee’s head coach for seven seasons from 1970-1976, posting seven straight winning seasons in that time. His teams played in five bowl games and were 4-1 in those games, and all five teams ended their seasons ranked in the top-20 in the final Associated Press poll.

Battle began his head coaching career with three straight 10-win seasons from 1970-1972, posting a 31-5 record in that time. His 1970 squad was 11-1 and 4-1 in SEC play, finishing second in the conference standings. Battle never won an SEC title at Tennessee. The Vols’ record dropped in each of his final four seasons in Knoxville, hitting its lowest point in 1976 with a 6-5 season. Battle was forced out of his job following the ’76 campaign to make room for Tennessee legend Johnny Majors as head coach. Battle never returned to coaching after leaving Tennessee. He was 59-22-2 for his career as a head coach.