Tim Priest

Post-playing career

A three-time Academic All-SEC athlete, Priest was awarded an NCAA post-graduate scholarship following his senior year, and served as a graduate assistant for the Vols during the 1971 season. In 1972, Battle appointed Priest assistant coach of the freshman team, replacing Dewey Warren.

Priest graduated valedictorian, Order of the Coif, from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1975, and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1976. He worked as an associate with the firm of Banks Campbell and Owen before becoming a full partner in 1978. He joined the firm of Pryor Priest and Harber in 1982. In 1998, he was appointed municipal court judge for the Town of Farragut, replacing the outgoing Judge David Creekmore. He held this position until 2005. During the latter year, at the conclusion of Tennessee's national championship season, the long-time Vol Radio Network duo of play-by-play announcer John Ward and football color analyst Bill Anderson retired, and sports reporter Bob Kesling and Priest were hired as their respective successors. He announced his retirement from the Vol Network in June 2021, after 22 seasons.

Priest was named to the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. On November 12, 2016, he was honored as a Vol Legend of the Game prior to Tennessee's game against Kentucky at Neyland Stadium.

Personal Priest married former Vol cheerleader Betsy Minnis in 1971. They have two children, Adam and Laura.