MEMPHIS - The longest ever break in the Tennessee-Memphis football series is not coming to an end in the near future, but the schools could renew their basketball rivalry soon.
Tennessee football coach Butch Jones largely deflected a question about the possibility of the Volunteers returning to the city for a game with the Tigers while talking to media before Sunday's Big Orange Caravan stop at the Agricenter in Memphis.
"The scheduling is always many, many years down the road and I know that our scheduling right now is set for many years," Jones said.
Tennessee and Memphis have not played in football since 2010. The Volunteers own a 22-1 all-time record in the series that began in 1968. Until this dormant period, the longest break between meetings had been three seasons.
The basketball series between the two is also in its longest drought since the in-state foes began playing regularly in 1988. But Tennessee coach Rick Barnes indicated that series will resume soon.
"(Memphis) Coach (Tubby) Smith and I, we actually talked about it during one of the recruiting periods," Barnes said Sunday. "We both want to do it. It's going to happen. We've just got to get the date ready and whether we start here or start there."
The Vols own a 14-11 series lead against Memphis in basketball, but the Tigers have won the past three meetings. The teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively when they met in 2008. Tennessee won that game 66-62 in Memphis to jump to a short-lived stay atop the national rankings.
Bruce Pearl and John Calipari were the coaches involved in that game. Memphis is on its second coach since that memorable night, while the Vols are on their third.
"There's not a guy in the business I respect more than Tubby Smith," Barnes said. "We both know it would be a good game for the state and good for both universities. We've talked about it and both know we're going to play that game."
Tennessee athletic director John Currie, who worked in the athletic department from 2000-09, recalled working with Memphis to schedule the basketball games, including that 2008 affair.
"That was obviously one of the special moments in the history of basketball in our state," Currie said. "Hopefully we can have some more great moments like that."
As for football?
The Tigers are in the midst of a football golden period. The team has strung together three consecutive winnings seasons, earning top-25 rankings at points in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Memphis knocked off No. 13 Ole Miss in Memphis in 2015.
"I haven't had any of those talks as it relates to football," Currie said.
Jones still hopeful for Tuttle's return
Junior defensive tackle Shy Tuttle is working his way back from the second significant injury of his college career. The former five-star high school prospect suffered a broken fibula midway through his freshman season. Then a knee injury forced him to miss the last several games of the 2016 season and 2017 spring practice.
Jones said there is no timetable for Tuttle's return but that he remains optimistic about Tuttle's future.
"Shy is as determined as I've seen him," Jones said. "He's got a great outlook on things and he's doing a lot of things right now, which has been good to see. Shy Tuttle can do anything he puts his mind to."
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.