It’s the start of a new tradition on Rocky Top.
Last spring, the UT Athletic Department and Student Government Association put a plan in motion to revamp student support for the Volunteers by giving name to Neyland Stadium’s ambiguous student section.
Within weeks of the proposal, the Athletic Department created the Name Our Home website where students began suggesting new names for the section. Out of hundreds of suggestions, the top five most popular entries were then opened up for a campus-wide vote. The five nominees students are currently voting on are: General’s Quarters, Smokey’s Howl, Vol Army, Rocky Top Rowdies and Big Orange Crew.
Voting on the Name Our Home website ends Aug. 24, and the winner will be revealed at the first home football game against Utah State on Aug. 31.
“There’s going to be a big reveal of the new name,” Connor Dugosh, SGA vice president, said. “There’s a chance that we’ll announce the name at the All-Vol Tailgate that SGA is putting on.”
Grant Davis, former SGA student services director and current graduate student at UT’s College of Law, worked with SGA’s Traditions Committee and the Athletic Department last year to implement the name change.
Davis said, however, the idea originally came from football Head Coach Butch Jones.
“Coach Jones invited around 100 student leaders for a meeting last fall,” Davis said. “He wanted to ask us for our help getting students into the stadium to support the team. He outlined the ways we could help and how he was going to get students engaged.”
While the Athletic Department was responsible for marketing the idea and creating the software for the voting process, collaboration with SGA ensured that it was a student-driven initiative.
“Athletics wants the student body to have the best football experience possible, and this allows students to be involved,” Davis said. “I was very impressed with how receptive the Athletic Department was to student input, and by how willing they were to work with students.”
While he admits the final decision is up to the student body, Davis said he is particularly partial to one of the five choices.
“I grew up listening to stories about General Neyland, and about how my grandfather used to buy a young Johnny Majors and his brothers hamburgers on the Lynchburg square,” Davis said. “So, I’ve got to say that I am a little biased towards General’s Quarters … I can’t wait to find out what the student body chooses, because I plan on being there the next three years of law school to cheer on the Vols.”
For Kelsey Keny, student body president and senior in journalism and electronic media, the naming of the student section provides students with an identity many other universities have already claimed.
“If you think of places like Texas A&M who call their fans ‘The 12th Man’ or Duke basketball with the ‘Cameron Crazies,’ those names just give an extra sense of pride and participation for school spirit,” Keny said. “Having a name for the student section just amplifies feeling like a part of something.
“It’s just another way to show everyone else how great it is to be a Tennessee Vol.”
