Tennessee wins third straight SEC All-Sports Trophy

Tennessee again can lay claim to having the best athletic department in the SEC. Another successful academic year for the self-proclaimed “Everything School” led to Tennessee winning its third consecutive SEC All-Sports Trophy (presented annually by the USA Today Network), it was announced on Tuesday morning. The Vols topped the Men’s All-Sports standings and the Lady Vols were No. 2 in the Women’s All-Sports standings.

Florida is the only other SEC school to win multiple SEC All-Sports titles.

Tennessee has four conference crowns in 2024 alone with the baseball team sweeping the regular-season and tournament titles and the softball and men’s basketball team winning regular-season championships – it’s the first time the same school has won the baseball, basketball and softball titles in the same year.

“I am so proud of our exceptional student-athletes, coaches, and staff, as well as the unwavering support of our fans and donors here on Rocky Top,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said in a release. “Securing the SEC All-Sports Trophy for the third consecutive year is a testament to the dedication and hard work of everyone involved. As we press forward in our journey at Tennessee, this sustained competitive excellence ignites our determination to pursue even greater accomplishments!”

Tennessee has 12 SEC titles since the spring of 2021 shortly after White was hired from UCF. In the four years before his arrival, Tennessee won just two conference titles. The school nabbed its first-ever SEC All-Sports Trophy in 2022, and sweep of the men’s and women’s titles – something only Florida has done – followed in 2023.

This year, the men’s teams earned the top spot, while the women’s programs finished second behind Texas A&M. The Aggies were second in the overall standings, followed by Florida (third), Georgia (fourth), Arkansas (fifth), Auburn (sixth) and Alabama (seventh) rounding out the top half of the league. The bottom half begins with LSU in eighth and ends with Missouri in last with Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss in order between the two sets of Tigers.

White’s contract includes bonus compensation for Tennessee’s finish in the LEARFIELD Directors Cup standings, but not for the SEC All-Sports Trophy. He does receive incentives worth 1% of his salary – a little more than $2.4 million this year – for every SEC title that Tennessee wins (and 3% for any national titles). His deal also includes bonuses for the Vols and Lady Vols basketball teams reaching and advancing in the NCAA tournament and a 1% or 3% bowl bonus for Josh Heupel’s football program.

Tennessee finished 13th (2021-22) and a best-ever sixth (2022-23) in the Directors Cup standings the past two years and was fifth exiting the winter sports this year. White noted earlier this month that eight of Tennessee’s nine spring sports were ranked in the top 16 nationally. While the Lady Vols softball team fell in the Super Regional last weekend, the baseball Vols are the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament, the tennis teams reached the quarterfinals (men) and Final Four (women) and the men’s golf team just finished 10th in the NCAA Championships for that program’s best-ever finish since 1981.

In the fall, Tennessee football finished 17th in both polls after a 9-4 season. For the Lady Vols, the cross country team finished sixth in the NCAA Championships, its first appearance in that event since 2006. The volleyball team finished second in the SEC and made the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005, and the soccer team reached the NCAA tournament’s second round.

In the winter, the basketball Vols won the SEC regular-season title and made the second Elite Eight in program history. Lady Vols basketball reached the NCAA tournament before undergoing a coaching change with Kim Caldwell White’s choice to run that traditionally strong program. The swimming and diving teams finished sixth (men) and fourth (women) in the NCAA Championships – the best finish since 2001 for the men and the second-best finish ever for the women.