The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In January 2021, Danny White was introduced as the Volunteers' Director of Athletics.
Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.
The Los Gatos Rowing Club was started in 1979 to provide what was then mostly an eastern U.S. sport, to the kids in the Santa Clara Valley. In the past 20 years, more than 2,000 kids from 15 different high schools have passed through the program. Many have gone onto colleges and universities to row competitively, several have received rowing scholarships, and a few have been selected for Junior National Camps and are trying for the Olympics.
The Tennessee Volunteers football program represents the University of Tennessee (UT).
The 2007 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They won the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference before falling to the eventual national champion LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship Game. The Vols capped off the season by defeating the Wisconsin Badgers in the Outback Bowl to finish with a record of 10–4.
The Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team is the collegiate men's basketball program for the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Volunteers play their home games in Thompson–Boling Arena, on a court nicknamed "the Summitt", after former Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt. With a current capacity of 21,678, Tennessee has consistently ranked in the top 15 in the nation in terms of volume of attendance, averaging 14,817 attendance from 1988 through 2006, and averaging 17,194 attendance from 2007 through 2018 after reducing seating capacity prior to the 2007 season. Historically, Tennessee ranks third in the SEC in all-time wins. Many notable players have played collegiately at Tennessee—players such as Bernard King, Dale Ellis, Allan Houston, Tobias Harris, and Grant Williams who all play(ed) in the NBA. Chris Lofton, Ron Slay, Tyler Smith, and John Fulkerson are also notable players who later played professionally in other leagues.
Conal P. Groom is an American competition competitive rower and coach. He co-founded Seattle Rowing Center with Carol Nagy, the former junior novice coach at Lake Union Crew and business manager at Pocock Rowing Center. In 2019, Groom moved to mountains outside Santa Barbara, California.
Yasmin Farooq is an American rowing cox and the head coach of the University of Washington women's rowing team. She graduated from Waupun High School in 1984 at Waupun, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin where she joined the rowing team in 1984 as a coxswain. She was a member of the 1986 national champion JV eight and served as captain and MVP of the team her senior year. A two-time Olympian and world champion in rowing, Farooq later became a college coach at Stanford University where she helped the Cardinal win its first ever Pac-12 and NCAA titles in rowing. At the University of Washington, her team swept the NCAA Championship for the first-time in history, then repeated the feat in 2019 setting NCAA records in all three events. She has been named Pac-12 coach of the year six times and national coach of the year three times. She was inducted into the USRowing Hall of Fame in 2014 and awarded the Ernestine Bayer Woman of the Year award by USRowing in 2017. In 2021, Farooq was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame.
The Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team represents the University of Tennessee (UT) in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA Division I women's softball competition. Coached by Karen Weekly, the team has become a consistently top tier team in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), appearing in every NCAA tournament since 2004, and qualifying for 8 Women's College World Series.
Esther Ruth Lofgren is an American rower and an Olympic gold medalist. She won the gold medal in the women's eight at the 2012 Summer Games in London. Lofgren is a graduate of Harvard College, where she rowed for Radcliffe and was a two-time All-American. She is an eight-time member of the U.S. National Rowing Team and a seven-time World Championship medalist.
The Tennessee Volunteers women's volleyball team represents the University of Tennessee located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Volunteers play their home matches in the Thompson–Boling Arena on the university's campus, and are currently led by 3rd-year head coach Eve Rackham.
The Tennessee Volunteers men's cross country program represents the University of Tennessee located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The men's program competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The men's cross country team officially started in 1924.
The Tennessee Volunteers women's cross country program represents the University of Tennessee (UT) located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The women's program competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The women's cross country team officially started in 1974.
The Tennessee Volunteers men's Swimming and Diving program represents the University of Tennessee located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers are currently coached by Matt Kredich. The Vols host their swim meets in the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center which was newly built in 2008. The Vols compete in the SEC where they have won 10 SEC team titles, 173 individual titles and 45 relay crowns. Over the past 75 years of competition the Vols have produced numerous All-Americans, 24 Olympians, scored in 53 consecutive NCAA Championship meets, won 45 individual NCAA titles and won 1 NCAA National Title.
The Tennessee Volunteers women's soccer team represents the University of Tennessee (UT) in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA Division I women's soccer competition as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The Tennessee Volunteers women's track and field program represents the University of Tennessee in the sport of track and field. The indoor and outdoor programs compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Lady Vols host their home outdoor meets at the newly renovated Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium, located on the university's Knoxville, Tennessee campus. They formally held meets indoors at Stokely Athletic Center until the arenas demolition in 2012, but will soon have a new indoor track facility sometime in the 2020s. The team is led by current head coach Duane Ross who took over the program after the firing of Beth Alford-Sullivan in May 2022.
The Vol Network is the radio and television network of the University of Tennessee Volunteers women's and men's sports teams known as the Vols and Lady Vols. Established in 1949 and since 2019, it has been operated by Learfield IMG College.
Madison Shipman is an American former professional softball player. She played college softball at Tennessee.
The Tennessee Volunteers women's Swimming and Diving program represents the University of Tennessee located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers are currently coached by Matt Kredich. The Lady Vols host their swim home meets in Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center which was newly built in 2008. The Lady compete in the SEC where they have won 2 SEC team titles, 84 individual, relay, and diving titles. Additionally, the program is one of only 3 that have scored in all 41 NCAA meets, and it has produced 8 NCAA individual and relay titles, 16 Olympians, and 3 Olympic medalists.
The Tennessee Volunteers women's tennis team represents the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, TN. The program has qualified for 30 NCAA Tournaments, including 20 straight from 1995 to 2014. They are led by former player and current 6th year head coach Alison Ojeda.
