UT A.D. Hart Says Saving Vols-Tide Rivalry “Critically Important”

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Dave Hart grew up in Alabama.  He played basketball at Alabama.  And now he’s the athletic director at Tennessee.  As someone who’s seen both sides of the Third Saturday in October rivalry, Hart says protecting that game needs to be a priority for the league:


“It’s one of those (rivalries) that literally gives you chill bumps.  Anyone who’s familiar with the Southeastern Conference can recite to you plays from you-name-the-year, plays that made a difference, great runs, great defensive plays, players who made a difference and went onto great careers in the NFL.

Just the tradition, and history and passion that exists in that rivalry is the reason I think it’s critically important that we do all we can to maintain that.”


The simplest way to save the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry — as well as 18 other SEC rivalries that have been played at least 60 times — is to place Missouri in the SEC’s East Division.

We discuss that option and several others in great detail here.

That is assuming, of course, that MU announces shortly that it wants to leave the Big 12 for the SEC.