UT’s Spirit Squad includes cheerleaders, dance team members, mascots, Smokey dog handlers, and spring sports ambassadors. In 1992 Assistant Athletics Director Col. Gene Moeller responded to a proposal from Joy Postell-Gee seeking to consolidate oversight of spirit activities by hiring her part time to do so. The job then grew to a full-time post that oversees all aspects of the spirit program. The cheerleading squad consists of 32 students—16 males and 16 females. The squad divides the responsibility for every athletic function at UT. The dance team, with 18 members, performs only at men’s athletic events. Five additional Spirit Squad members serve as mascots: Smokey, Junior Smokey, the Volunteer, and understudy positions. Students also serve as handlers for Smokey the dog during public performances.
Postell-Gee, the first director of the program, earned the bachelor’s degree in English from Western Carolina and a master’s in English from UT. She taught school in North Carolina, where she volunteered on the coaching staff at North Carolina State, and then in Georgia, where she also coached high school cheerleading for seven years. Upon returning to Knoxville, she worked at the Knoxville Gymnastics Training Center and started the first local all-star cheerleading team, the Knoxville Cheer Stars.