Robert Neyland was a West Point graduate and one of the greatest college football coaches in history.   His career was spent transitioning back and forth between military assignments and college football assignments- and he excelled at both.  He retired as a Brigadier General and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a four-time National Championship winning coach of the University of Tennessee. Sports Illustrated named Neyland as the defensive coordinator of its "All Century College Football Team."
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He was born February 17, 1892 in Greenville, Texas. He was a natural athlete and attended Texas A&M for one year prior to receiving his nomination to West Point from Senator Sam Rayburn. He was one of Army’s all time greatest athletes, as a four-time letterman as a football lineman, baseball pitcher and Brigade boxing champion. He turned down a contract with the New York Giants in order to serve in World War I.   

Later in life he was referred to in football circles as “The General”, a rank and title he earned in the military during World War II. He served as head coach of Tennessee football three separate times (1926-1934, 1934-1940, 1946-1952) achieving an overall record of 173 wins, 31 losses and 12 ties with four National Championships (1938, 1940, 1951, 1952) with 112 shutouts with six shut out seasons. His 1938 National Championship season was won remarkably without giving up a single point all season to the competition- a record that will likely never be matched.   
 
He was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and served in France in World War I. He then attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his graduate degree and returned to West Point as an aide to Superintendent Douglas MacArthur where he also served as assistant football coach.  He left West Point in 1924 to join the University of Tennessee as Assistant Football Coach. He returned to the Army after Pearl Harbor and served as the Chief Supply Officer in the incredibly challenging theater of China-Burma-India in World War II where he received the Distinguished Service Medal and promoted to Brigadier General.
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He married Peggy Fitch in 1923 and they had two sons: Robert and Lewis. He died at age 70 in New Orleans. The University of Tennessee football stadium bears his name “Neyland Stadium” not only because of his legacy but also because he personally designed the stadium.  A nine foot bronze statue of Robert Neyland stands in front of the stadium and the legacy he helped build.