Tennessee competes in the
Southeastern Conference (SEC). They formerly competed in the SEC's Eastern Division, along with
Florida,
Georgia,
Kentucky,
Missouri,
South Carolina, and
Vanderbilt, prior to the elimination of divisional groupings in 2024. The only UT team that does not compete in the SEC is the women's
rowing program, which competes as a single-sport member of the
Big 12 Conference. The
Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team has won eight NCAA Division I titles (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008); only
Connecticut, with twelve titles, has more championships. Their former head coach,
Pat Summitt, is the all-time winningest basketball coach in NCAA history and had a 100 percent graduation rate for all players who finished their career at UT. Women's basketball rivals for Tennessee within the conference include
Georgia,
Vanderbilt, and
LSU. In August 2014, University of Tennessee students were given the opportunity to vote for a name for the Neyland Stadium student section. The name "Rocky Top Rowdies" was selected over "General's Quarters", "Smokey's Howl", "Vol Army", and "Big Orange Crew". On November 10, 2014, as part of a university-wide branding overhaul, the UT athletic department announced that starting with the 2015–16 school year, all UT women's teams except for basketball would drop "Lady" from their nickname and become simply "Volunteers". The rebranding coincided with UT's switch from
Adidas to
Nike as its uniform supplier. The change was unpopular and the name "Lady Volunteers" has since returned.
Club sports Sports include tennis, pickleball, lacrosse, rugby, soccer,
wrestling, hockey, running, crew, golf, water polo, ballroom dance, and paintball. Some teams join intercollegiate conferences.
Colors Charles Moore, president of the university's athletic association, chose orange and white for the school colors on April 12, 1889. His inspiration is said to have come from orange and white
daisies which grew on the Hill. To this day there are still orange and white flowers grown outside the University Center. Although students confirmed the colors at a special meeting in 1892, dissatisfaction caused the colors to be dropped. No other acceptable colors could be agreed on, however, and the original colors were reinstated a day later. The University of Tennessee's official colors are
UT Orange (Pantone 151), White, and Smokey Gray (Pantone 426).
Pride of the Southland Band The Pride of the Southland Band (or simply The Pride) is UT's marching band. As one of the oldest institutions at the university, the band partakes in many of the gameday traditions. At every home game, the Pride performs the "March to the Stadium" which includes a parade sequence and climaxes when the band stops at the bottom of The Hill and performs the "Salute to the Hill", an homage to the history and legacy of the university. The band is known for its pregame show at the beginning of every home game, which ends with the football team running onto the field through the "Opening of the T".
Mascot Nickname Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State" for the large number of Tennesseans who
volunteered for duty in the
War of 1812, the
Mexican–American War, and the
American Civil War. A UT athletic team was dubbed the Volunteers for the first time in 1902 by the
Atlanta Constitution before a football game against the
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, although the
Knoxville Journal and Tribune did not use the name until 1905. By the fall of 1905 both the
Journal and the then-
Sentinel were using the nickname. == Notable people ==