Former Pitt football coach hospitalized
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Former Tennessee football star and University of Pittsburgh coach Johnny Majors is in stable condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center after a heart valve procedure.
UT Medical Center spokesman Jim Ragonese sent an email to the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Friday saying the 78-year-old Majors had a heart valve procedure Thursday. A hospital nursing supervisor who didn’t give her name told The Associated Press on Friday night that Majors was in stable condition.
Majors played at Tennessee from 1954-56, finishing second in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior. He went 185-137-10 as a coach at Iowa State (1968-72), Pittsburgh (1973-76, 1993-96) and Tennessee (1977-92), leading Pittsburgh to the 1976 national title. He entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
Tennessee coach Butch Jones said after Friday’s practice that “our thoughts are with Coach Majors.”