Under General Neyland, the Vols had their team bench on the east side of the field, close to the dressing room, which opened onto the field at the east side 50 yard line. In 1965 Coach Doug Dickey moved the team bench to the west side of the field and teamed with Pride of the Southland Band director, Dr. WJ Julian, to have the team enter the field through a giant “T” formed by the band, first formed for the 1965 Army game. When the Vols moved to their new dressing room under the north stands in 1983, the “T” remained, forming from north to south (first at the Louisiana State University game), instead of from east to west. That configuration continued when the team bench was moved back to the east sidelines in 1993 (for the 1994 season) to comply with an SEC rule prohibiting student seating in the first several rows along the 30-yard line behind the visiting team’s bench. (The team bench moved back to the west side in 2010, following adjustments to student seating assignments on the east side to comply with the SEC rule.)
All home games featured the run through the “T” until September 23, 2006 (Marshall, Homecoming), when thunder and lightning delayed the start of the game by one hour (from 4:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.) and the exceedingly wet conditions and time considerations cancelled the run. (The halftime was also shortened.)