Sad News: Just Now” Tennessee Vols Best Talented Star Dalton Knecht Recall For” TSHF Co-Male Amateur Athlete Has Been Issue….

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame announced Wednesday the recipients of its annual honors, with Tennessee men’s basketball standout Dalton Knecht claiming Co-Male Amateur Athlete of the Year plaudits.

Knecht is the first member of Tennessee’s men’s basketball program to receive the honor since Grant Williams in 2019. He shared the plaudit with Vanderbilt golfer Gordon Sargent.

As a fifth-year guard in 2023-24, Knecht averaged 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor, 39.7 percent beyond the arc and 77.2 percent at the charity stripe.

Named the SEC Player of the Year, the Julius Erving Small Award designee (best small forward) and the Riley Wallace Award honoree (best transfer), Knecht collected consensus First Team All-America status and won the SEC scoring title. He was also a finalist for both the Naismith Trophy and the Wooden Award.

The Thornton, Colo., native logged 35-plus points six times in 2023-24, a program single-season record and the most of any Division I player in the nation. He capped his career with 37 points against third-ranked Purdue in the Elite Eight to set a program single-game NCAA Tournament scoring record.

Knecht helped the Volunteers post a 27-9 (14-4 SEC) record, an outright SEC regular season championship and the second Elite Eight bid in program history.

The Tennessee women’s softball team earned Female Amateur Team of the Year distinction, giving UT two TSHF designees. The full list of honorees can be found HERE.

To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and

University of Tennessee athletic director Danny White chose to fire head women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper in April after five seasons. Although the decision was not entirely unexpected, it did not go over well with a subset of Volunteers fans.

They were not afraid to express their frustrations in some very angry emails to White!

Harper, 47, was hired by Tennessee in 2019. She won 21 games in her first year, which was cut short due to the pandemic, and was equally as successful in the next four regular seasons.

However, the Vols repeatedly fell short during the NCAA Tournament.

2020/21: 17-8, lost in the Second Round
2021/22: 25-9, lost in the Sweet Sixteen
2022/23: 25-12, lost in the Sweet Sixteen
2023/24: 20-13, lost in the Second Round
This past year’s early-round exit was the primary catalyst for Harper’s ouster. Tennessee expects to compete for a national championship year-in and year-out. Nothing short of the Elite Eight will suffice!

As a result, White chose to move on from Harper and hired Kim Caldwell. The latter led Marshall to the NCAA Tournament last season after a lot of success on the Division-II level at Glenville State.

To say that it was a contentious firing and hiring would be an understatement.

Some Tennessee fans were furious!
There was an extremely vocal group who reached out to White to express their disappointment. Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel obtained some of the emails through an FOIA request. They are wild!

A fan that identified as Ted told White to “rot in hell” and called him a “sleeze ball.”

An unnamed fan said that “The great pat summit would be rolling in her grave!” He or she proceeded to call White an unkind pair of expletives and hopes that he “gets nothing but backlash.”

John, an elderly fan, said that he hopes every player on Tennessee’s roster will transfer and wants the women’s basketball team to lose 20 games in a row next year. That way, White is responsible.