The Move To "Big Orange Country"
From Wittenberg, the 35-year-old Mears traveled to The University of Tennessee, becoming one of the NCAA's most successful coaches during his 15-year stint there. He compiled three Southeastern Conference championships between 1962 and 1977 and an overall winning percentage of .713. Mears was twice named the SEC Coach of the Year (1967 and 1977). He coached 12 All-Americans at Tennessee, including NBA stars Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld. He retired in 1977 after 21 years of college coaching and a 399-135 record with no losing seasons and a .747 winning percentage. After leaving coaching, he served for 10 years as Athletic Director at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
One of the prime achievements of Mears' tenure at Tennessee was the introduction of the phrase "Big Orange Country" to the Volunteer fans. As an Ohio native, Mears recalled the Steubenville "Big Red" and liked the name and all it implied. The Volunteers and the Knoxville area took it to heart, along with the innovative pre-game shows Mears brought to spectators. Mears would often, particularly for big away games, walk the entire perimeter of the floor in his Big Orange sportcoat, both engaging and enraging opposing teams' fans. He also had to have green jello for the pre-game meal. Once at an away game the team was eating at a restaurant and the restaurant thought it would be funny to make orange jello. Mears got very mad and the man had to go to the store, buy green jello, prepare it, and serve it. It turns out Tennessee won the game by a couple of points. Coach said it was the green jello. Ray Mears was coach to legendary Tennessee players such as Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld. He was one of the SEC coaches (Adolph Rupp- UK, Dale Brown- LSU, CM Newton-Vandy, Rick Pitino-UK, Wimp Sanderson-Alabama and Nolan Richardson (Ark) that raised the league to one of the U.S.' best basketball conferences.
Read more about this topic: Ray Mears (coach)
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