When Johnny Majors left Pittsburgh in 1977 to become head football coach at the University of Tennessee, he brought Tim Kerin with him as part of his first Vol staff. Kerin served as head trainer for 15 years until his sudden death from an aortic aneurysm in August of 1992. Tim’s job description at Tennessee included a lot of territory, part of which was coordinating all the team’s travel arrangements. However, his first priority of course, was the health and safety of literally hundreds of Vol athletes who looked to him for their training requirements. When Tennessee built the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center, Kerin designed the training facility, from the ground up, to specifically address the needs of Volunteer student-athletes. The state-of-the-art training room was officially dedicated “The Tim Kerin Training Room” in his honor and memory on November 26, 1993. In June of 1993, Kerin was inducted into the National Athletic Trainer’s Association Hall of Fame for his outstanding career in the field and that same year the Tennessee Athletic Trainers Society selected Kerin as the Gene Smith/Mickey O’Brien College Athletic Trainer of the Year. In honor of Kerin, the University of Tennessee Campus Ministries Council and the Athletic Department sponsor a special food collection at one of the home football games each year. The drive is for the SHARE Food Bank and benefits needy families during the holidays.
