From both basketball teams to a handful of changes with football, along with baseball and softball, the landscape of athletics on campus was just as storied 10 years ago as it is now.
Revisit the past and review the status of these teams in their respective 2016 seasons.
2015-16 Men’s basketball (15-19, 6-12 SEC)
A staple season for Tennessee basketball in terms of recent history, the 2015-16 year served as head coach Rick Barnes’ first season with the team. He is the only coach of the major sports to still be at Tennessee today.
Finishing with an overall record of 15-19, the Vols still finished with an impressive home record of 12-4 with big wins over Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
The team featured two future NBA professionals in Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander. Despite both earning brief NBA opportunities, the main scorer from the 2015-16 season was guard Kevin Punter, who finished the year averaging 22 points per game.
2015-16 Women’s basketball (22-14, 8-8 SEC)
Led by former Lady Vols player and head coach Holly Warlick, the Lady Vols were still trying to find their footing as a team after the departure of Pat Summitt in 2012.
Despite going 13-4 at home during the regular season, the Lady Vols finished 4-8 on the road, marking their season with a 22-14 finish. The team itself featured a handful of pro Lady Vols, including Diamond DeShields, Mercedes Russell and Bashaara Graves.
DeShields led the team with 14 points per game, along with five rebounds and two assists.
The team reached the Elite Eight, despite an up-and-down regular season. Their impressive March run ended at the hands of Syracuse, 89-67.
2016 Baseball (29-28, 9-21 SEC)
Before there was Tony Vitello, there was head coach Dave Serrano. The 2016 Tennessee baseball team was quite the ride. The team featured one player that most Tennessee fans will recognize: infielder Nick Senzel.
Senzel’s 2016 season was his final on campus before being drafted into Major League Baseball with the second overall pick in the draft by the Cincinnati Reds.
The biggest highlights of the season, outside of future professional Senzel and Andy Cox, remained a big series win late in the season against Vanderbilt, where the Vols claimed two out of three despite winning just nine conference games that season.
2016 Softball (43-16, 16-7 SEC)
Led by both Ralph and Karen Weekly in 2016, Lady Vols softball continued its storied success with a dominant 43-win season, finishing third in the conference and No. 13 nationally by the end of the year.
The team was led by Lexi Overstreet and Meghan Gregg on offense, combining for 125 RBI’s on the season.
Erin Gabriel and Matty Moss headlined the rotation. Gabriel finished her season with a 2.36 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP over a team-high 145.1 innings. Moss ended her year with a 1.68 ERA, which led the team.
Despite the season ending by elimination against Arizona in regionals, the Lady Vols extended their streak of 40 plus-win seasons to 13 seasons.
2016-17 Football (9-4, 4-4 SEC)
Tennessee football has had one of the largest turnovers since the year 2016, but that doesn’t mean that the season itself 10 years ago didn’t feature some success.
Led by former head coach Butch Jones, the 2016-17 Vols finished their season with a 9-4 record while playing .500 football against the conference.
The biggest highlight from this season, as many fans may recall, is the walk-off Hail Mary against Georgia, resulting in a 34-31 win for the Vols.
The team had a handful of professional talent, including quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who is set to be the backup quarterback to Drake Maye in the Super Bowl in February.
Along with Dobbs, wideouts Jauan Jennings and Josh Malone led the offense, with a familiar name in Alvin Kamara handling the backfield.
