Majors Forgetting ‘That Other Place’ Coach’s Difficult Times At Tennessee Seven Years And Heart Bypass In The Past

When we last left Johnny Majors, he was living a nightmare in what he thought was his dream job.

It was in early October of 1988 and his Tennessee Volunteers were 0-5 coming off a rare and humbling 52-24 home loss to Washington State, an upstart team that would eventually beat Houston in the Aloha Bowl to finish 9-3.

A mildly deranged radio disc jockey was perched atop a billboard in Knoxville, vowing not to return to earth until the Vols snapped their uncharacteristic skid.

And some of UT’s most loyal boosters were starting to wonder whether it was time for Majors, an All-American tailback for the Volunteers in 1956, to voluntarily step aside.

That was seven years, 71 games and a heart bypass ago for the 60- year-old Majors, who has since gone through a bitter separation from his alma mater and returned to Pittsburgh, where he is attempting to rebuild the Panthers program into the national power it became during his first tenure there.

The lopsided loss to WSU, the booster unrest and the craziness that surrounded Tennessee’s 0-5 start in 1988 are but faint memories as Majors prepares again for the Cougars and Saturday night’s season opener at Pitt Stadium.

“That doesn’t concern me at all,” Majors said, looking back on one of the lowest points in his 27-year college coaching career. “I’ve been in this thing since 1957 (as a player and coach) and I’ve seen a lot, but incidents like that prove you haven’t seen it all, I guess.

“It’s better to just forget it and move on to the present and the future.”

There is more than just a hint of resentment in Majors’ voice when he recalls his 16-year stay at Tennessee - but little of it stems from the 1988 season when the Vols regrouped to finish 5-6. The resentment, it seems, was spawned in

the early autumn of 1992 when Majors missed UT’s first three games after undergoing open-heart surgery prior to the start of the season.

He was engaged in contract extension talks with Tennessee officials just before entering the hospital. But once he returned to the practice field, there was no contract offer on the table.

And there seemed to be no hurry on the part of UT administartors to reopen negotiations.

Majors was hurt, and to this very day he seldom brings up the name of his alma mater, preferring, instead, to refer to Tennessee as “that other place” he coached. But he managed to put his personal feelings aside and coach the Vols to five wins in their last eight games that year.

A reporter noticed near the end of the season, however, that Majors had dusted off the national championship ring he had won at Pittsburgh 16 years earlier and was wearing it once again.

And reports that Majors might return to Pittsburgh, where he had led the Panthers to a perfect 12-0 record and a national title in 1976, became fact a couple of months later when he was introduced as the school’s 32nd head football coach.

“Coming back to Pitt is one of the most exciting challenges a person could have,” Majors admitted at the time.

And few could argue with his reasoning.

The Panthers were coming off a dismal 3-9 season that included four losses of more than 30 points. Coach Paul Hackett had resigned prior to the final game of the year - a 36-23 loss at Hawaii - and the program was is turmoil.

But now, following back-to-back 3-8 seasons, Majors seems to be answering that challenge.

Last year’s team improved dramatically during the course of the year, pushing powerful Miami to the limit before losing 17-14 on the road and then closing with a impressive 35-21 home win over Rutgers.

“We were out of several games by halftime a couple of years ago,” Majors recalled, “but last year we were in more games in the fourth quarter with a chance to win.”

Sixteen starters, including tailback Billy West, the Big East Confernce’s offensive player of the year, return from that team, giving Majors a solid base for his cautious optimism.

“We have improved in virtually ever area,” Major said. “It is impossible to predict wins and losses in a season, and we won’t have metamorphosis overnight, but I am very encouraged.”“I’m certainly not ready to make any reservations anywhere after the season, but we have made a lot of progress as far as attitude and discipline are concerned. We’ve turned it around 180 degrees in those areas from where it was three years ago.”

Along with west, a stocky 5-foot-10, 205-pound junior, who rushed for 1,358 yards and six touchdowns last fall, the Panthers also return senior quarterback John Ryan, the Big East’s most efficient passer, and senior wide receiver Dietrich Jells, who caught 35 passes for 613 yards and four TDs as a junior.

Majors’ said his main concern is in the offensive line where the graduation losses of All-American Reuben Brown and four-year starting center Lawson Mollica have left gaping holes.

The defense returns nine starters from 1994, but there are those who wonder if that is, indeed, a plus, considering the Panthers gave up an average of 416 yards and 27.9 points a game last fall.

“We’ve had a tough time defensively,” Majors admitted. “We’ve had people run up and down the field on us for two years - except for the last part of last season when we showed some improvement.”“We have some experience on defense, but our defense hasn’t been nearly as dominating - dominating, intimidating, ferocious, whatever you want to call it - as Washington State’s. Not by any stretch.”

Still, the Panthers figure to present some problems for a Cougar offense that ranked last in the Pacific-10 Conference last year.

Among Pitts’ top defenders are senior linebacker Tom Tumulty, a Butkus Award candidate, and senior cornerback Anthony Dorsett, son of former Pitt tailback and Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett.

Majors said he isn’t sure what to expect from either WSU or his own team when Saturday’s 4 p.m. (PST) kickoff arrives.

But he seems at ease with the fact that his bittersweet experience at Tennessee is behind him and that he has returned to a place where simple improvement is still appreciated.

There is no 0-5 start to defend. There is no booster unrest at Pittsburgh. And there is no disc jockey making headlines by camping out in protest on a billboard.

Maybe Johnny Majors has finally seen it all.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MAJORS ACCOMPLISHMENTS College: Tennessee, 1957. (Heisman Trophy runner-up to Paul Hornung) Coaching records: Iowa State, 5 years (24-30-1) Pittsburgh, 4 years (33-13-1) Tennessee, 16 years (116-62-8) Pittsburgh, 2 years (6-16) Record vs. WSU: 1-3 Notable: Majors is 16th among all-time collegiate coaches with 310 games coached. Only four active coaches have coached more games.