Fulmer: "I'm going to be around"

From 2002-2008 it was nowhere near acceptable. So you're completely wrong that he didn't under perform for most of his career. We had two top 5 finishes in the 90s....not nearly the national contenders we should ahve been considering we had more talent that virtually everyone. Matthews' opinion is laughable as to the reasoning Fulmer slid into mediocrity. They're close friends so I can understand his unwillingness to face the facts. I suppose it wasn't Fulmer's fault that our special teams became a disaster his last few years:birgits_giggle: I suppose it's wasn't Fulmer's fault that beginning in 2002 we started getting blown out at home by our biggest rivals..so no, it couldn't have been Fulmer's fault we lost our home field advantage to our biggest rivals. Want a quick recap of all those bad losses??? And there's a reason no one gave him a sniff from a power 5 opening when he was dismissed here. It's because he never proved he could build from the ground up...from a disaster...After 2001, we were NEVER relevant as a national contender for the rest of his tenure. It's easy to throw out stats that sound good. Another case in point: stats are meaningless without detail. The Fulmer story is a perfect example of that truth

So you're a friend of Phil's. If so, he doesn't need enemies.

Never said Phil was infallible and that he wasnt ultimately responsible for the program, good or bad. Just not interested in disrespecting him and creating false narratives about his time here. I think he deserves to be respected, appreciated and correctly remembered for all the good he did at Tennessee....even though I was one of the fans who thought it was time to go in a different direction after 2008. History says I was wrong given the death spiral of the program after his departure.
 
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So you're a friend of Phil's. If so, he doesn't need enemies.

Never said Phil was infallible and that he wasnt ultimately responsible for the program, good or bad. Just not interested in disrespecting him and creating false narratives about his time here. I think he deserves to be respected, appreciated and correctly remembered for all the good he did at Tennessee....even though I was one of the fans who thought it was time to go in a different direction after 2008. History says I was wrong given the death spiral of the program after his departure.

Never said we were friends. Said I know him personally.

I haven't created any false narratives about him. Everything I've stated is fact and truth.

History hasn't proved you wrong. That's the issue you Fulmer guys have with facts. Firing Fulmer and hiring the wrong person are two mutually exclusive events. Just because we hired the wrong person doesn't mean firing Fulmer was a bad move. If you can't understand that truth, I don't know what to tell you. Reality can burn sometimes
 
KB is so confused. When Fulmer failed he thinks it was because of the UT administration. When Majors had the program at the top of the polls he thinks it was because Fulmer was the OC.

What coaches did Fulmer hire? Not promote the coaches that Majors hired... who did Fulmer bring to UT? Majors built the football program, Fulmer benefited by taking over an already established, top program.
 
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KB is so confused. When Fulmer failed he thinks it was because of the UT administration. When Majors had the program at the top of the polls he thinks it was because Fulmer was the OC.

What coaches did Fulmer hire? Not promote the coaches that Majors hired... who did Fulmer bring to UT? Majors built the football program, Fulmer benefited by taking over an already established, top program.

There's no doubt that Fulmer had a lot to do with Majors' end of tenure success. That being said, David Cutcliffe was just as instrumental in Fulmer's success. I didn't hear anyone bringing up the DETAIL as to the brief turnaround in 2006 and it coinciding with Cutcliffe's return. I have heard anyone bring up Cutcliffe's comments in 2006 as to how undisciplined this team was when he got back here. Cutcliffe said that loudly and publicly. It doesn't matter. It appears Phillip was just as delusional about himself as the fans are that worship him
 
I'm going to stick up for Majors a little bit here. Battle took over a team that went 11-1 in his first season and made it progressively worse: 11 wins, 10 wins, 10 wins, 8 wins, 7 wins, 7 wins, 6 wins. You don't come in and immediately stop a seven-year slide. I believe Majors had to completely rebuild the roster. JMO.
 
Never said we were friends. Said I know him personally.

I haven't created any false narratives about him. Everything I've stated is fact and truth.

History hasn't proved you wrong. That's the issue you Fulmer guys have with facts. Firing Fulmer and hiring the wrong person are two mutually exclusive events. Just because we hired the wrong person doesn't mean firing Fulmer was a bad move. If you can't understand that truth, I don't know what to tell you. Reality can burn sometimes

Firing Fulmer and hiring a replacement ARE two mutually exclusive events, however, the act of changing coaches could be classified as a single event. Hiring a competent replacement is key in the decision to fire a coach, imo.
 
Firing Fulmer and hiring a replacement ARE two mutually exclusive events, however, the act of changing coaches could be classified as a single event. Hiring a competent replacement is key in the decision to fire a coach, imo.

You have a point. Normally though, when a long time coach is ousted, you'll see some considerable time pass before a replacement is named. Historically at the top 10-15 programs, when a long time coach with some success has been dismissed, they usually struggle finding an adequate replacement. Look at USC in the 90s. Texas in the 90s and recent years. Michigan. Ohio State has done well with their replacements, but they are an anomoly. Notre Dame has struggled with it. Alabama struggled with it until Saban was hired.
 
You have a point. Normally though, when a long time coach is ousted, you'll see some considerable time pass before a replacement is named. Historically at the top 10-15 programs, when a long time coach with some success has been dismissed, they usually struggle finding an adequate replacement. Look at USC in the 90s. Texas in the 90s and recent years. Michigan. Ohio State has done well with their replacements, but they are an anomoly. Notre Dame has struggled with it. Alabama struggled with it until Saban was hired.

I agree. That's why I think you have to factor it in, especially with a long-time coach. Sometimes the idea of 'another woman' (the next coach) isn't as attractive as what you actually end up with. If that makes sense. lol.
 
Firing Fulmer and hiring a replacement ARE two mutually exclusive events, however, the act of changing coaches could be classified as a single event. Hiring a competent replacement is key in the decision to fire a coach, imo.

Internet winner here.
 
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I like them both.
But regardless of how good Majors was, people wanted a championship.
Whatever about his first four years, he had 14!
I can like Majors and still be thankful we had a coach that actually brought us one. Which returns us to the actual thread.

Do I want a UT player around the program, yes.
A player + assistant coach, definitely yes.
Player+assistant+NC winning head coach? Oh hell yeah.

Lotta ungrateful and spoiled attitudes for 1 thread to hold.
 
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Complete bs. Those were some incredibly talented Florida teams, some all-time great SEC teams that won conference title after conference title (they won 6 during Fulmer's career, nobody else won more than 3 in that timespan) that we were battling during the time. I simply said Florida kept Tennessee, under Fulmer, from winning more games/championships. Let me add here that they kept every SEC team from winning more games and championships during the time period. You look like a blithering idiot trying to say otherwise.

So I checked the numbers, from 1992-2008, during Fulmer's tenure. The results? Tennessee had 95 players drafted, Florida 90....so over the course of those 17 years, Tennessee averaged .294 more players drafted per year into the NFL than Florida, or, at any given time, we might've had approximately one more player eventually drafted on our roster than Florida when we played them........kinda thinking that my statement, "he rarely, if ever, had more talent than Florida", is validated per your own definition.

I'll add that Spurrier was the better coach than Fulmer, just like he was pretty much the better coach vs anybody he played. And had it not been for him and the incredibly talented teams he put together, Fulmer would've been an even more solidly credentialed HOF coach than he already is.

If not for Spurrior being at Fla Fulmer would have been more successful and actually might have been able to weather the storm!
 
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I'm going to stick up for Majors a little bit here. Battle took over a team that went 11-1 in his first season and made it progressively worse: 11 wins, 10 wins, 10 wins, 8 wins, 7 wins, 7 wins, 6 wins. You don't come in and immediately stop a seven-year slide. I believe Majors had to completely rebuild the roster. JMO.

9 year rebuild - better late than never
 
I'll definitely give Phil this..
While he received more than fair compensation for services, he always goes above and beyond with his loyalty.
I read post after post of nothing but constant whining because UT didn't pull off their preferred hire, meanwhile, one of the men most often ****** over by UT (or at least people representing them) always remains civil and even supportive.
A tip of the hat.


Not to mention, being born-bred-attending-playing for-coaching for and still representing, seems the definition of VFL.

I can take a lot of ****ing over for $6 mil to do nothing but watch games from the stands.
 
I like them both.
But regardless of how good Majors was, people wanted a championship.
Whatever about his first four years, he had 14!
I can like Majors and still be thankful we had a coach that actually brought us one. Which returns us to the actual thread.

Do I want a UT player around the program, yes.
A player + assistant coach, definitely yes.
Player+assistant+NC winning head coach? Oh hell yeah.

Lotta ungrateful and spoiled attitudes for 1 thread to hold.
No there's not. It's reality. Fulmer has been treated EXTREMELY well by this university.
 
Chris Low wrote a few articles about Fulmer. In one article shortly after the firing, Low said "Ten years from now and 20 years from now, fans will look back on his time at Tennessee and realize what a magical run it was." We're about to hit the tenth year. It shouldn't have taken this long, but please, for the love of all that is holy, do this.
 
Than.... Let's pretend we didn't give him 6,000,000 dollars AFTER he ran the program into the ground!

He did and it was time for him to go. But he was also the last guy to win anything here.
And here we are still trying to figure out how to just win a poor division a decade later.
 
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Good... you know in a perfect world and a world that made sense, blackburn would be the AD, with Fulmer running the football operations, but we have idiots running the university, and idiots for boosters..
 
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Good... you know in a perfect world and a world that made sense, blackburn would be the AD, with Fulmer running the football operations, but we have idiots running the university, and idiots for boosters..

As soon as we go 7-6 or 6-7 you kno this message board would be blowing up asking "why did we bring Fulmer back"? And, "If he couldn't cut it as a coach why was he put in the athletic department?".
 
As soon as we go 7-6 or 6-7 you kno this message board would be blowing up asking "why did we bring Fulmer back"? And, "If he couldn't cut it as a coach why was he put in the athletic department?".

Which would be a silly point. You can't coach anymore so obviously you can't hold any other non direct position related to a football program.

One of those points you quote just to make sure everybody gets to laugh at it at least once.
 
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