David Paschall

Tennessee has discovered a most unlikely home away from home: Rupp Arena.

Then there were none.

Since the dawn of Southeastern Conference men's basketball in the 1932-33 season, there has never been a year in which both Kentucky and Tennessee finished outside the top five records in league play.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus last March, all Alabama football coach Nick Saban has done is cap a 13-0 national championship season with a 52-24 drubbing of Ohio State and land a 2021 signing class that analysts consider the greatest ever assembled.

It's unknown whether Tennessee's football program has bottomed out from a personnel standpoint following the termination of Jeremy Pruitt or if lower levels can be reached, but the Volunteers were happy to announce some additions Wednesday.

Tennessee has been lousy this basketball season at extending win streaks against Southeastern Conference opposition.

The next college football coach who admits to signing a lousy recruiting class will be the first, but there was Butch Jones in February 2015 attempting to temper a crop that was ranked fourth nationally by 247Sports.com.

Tennessee football has produced plenty of news the past three weeks, from the firing of Jeremy Pruitt to the hiring of Josh Heupel with multiple NCAA transfer portal decisions sprinkled in as well.

Within a recent 12-day stretch, Tennessee lost to Florida by 26 points and built a 26-point lead against Kansas, which is not quite the stability Volunteers sixth-year basketball coach Rick Barnes looks to maintain moving forward.

Inconsistencies in recent weeks have prevented Tennessee from hanging with the likes of Gonzaga and Baylor atop the college basketball world, but the Volunteers displayed Saturday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena why they still have the potential for a March run to remember.

The NCAA transfer portal now contains two former University of Tennessee specialists.

Funny how coaching hires in today's college football world can be revealed by 17- and 18-year-olds.

Josh Heupel's first full day as Tennessee's head football coach did not contain any announcements on the assistant coaching front.

Before the start of this college basketball season, Saturday night's matchup between Kansas and Tennessee inside Thompson-Boling Arena had the makings of an anticipated top-10 showdown.

Josh Heupel spent the past three seasons at the University of Central Florida and could look to that UCF staff for answers, but the former Tennessee staff under terminated coach Jeremy Pruitt is running low on possibilities to retain.

Josh Heupel was introduced Wednesday afternoon as the new head football coach at Tennessee, proclaiming the same objectives that predecessors Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt once desired before their eras yielded a combined 66-69 record.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the Southeastern Conference to alter its 2020 football schedules, with every team given a 10-game slate consisting solely of league opposition.

Tennessee's 56-53 defeat of Mississippi State was anything but glamorous Tuesday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena, but the No. 18 Volunteers were happy to avoid discussion of a three-game losing streak.

Announcing a decision to refrain from the NCAA transfer portal may not be deemed newsworthy from a traditional point of view, but Tennessee's football program could use anything to celebrate amid a continuing exodus.

Tuesday night's basketball game between Mississippi State and No. 18 Tennessee inside Thompson-Boling Arena has the makings of an entertaining block party.