Fulmer in the Bahamas

#8
#8
Hacksaw said:
Did you interact with him at all? Everyone I've known who has met him says he is very personable.
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No. I didnā€™t want to bother him. Iā€™ve talked to him many times after games because they all walked by us where we tailgate smoking their cigars. Because we won a lot!
 
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#9
#9
vol94fan said:
Met him at an airport in NYC shortly after he was fired from head coach. He was very personable and down to earth. He said he wished they had given him a little more time to turn it around. He's had a great career and deserves to have fun in retirement.
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I do think he could have turned it around!
 
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#12
#12
that's a great sighting.
2 things: We should have had a better plan in place for transitioning in 2007 / 2008, and he was a terrible AD, who hired the worst possible candidate for head coach of Tennessee football, before then throwing that coach under the bus for cheating when in all likelihood, he was following Fulmer's own directives. Then quietly rode away into the Bahamian sunset
 
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#14
#14
brockytop said:
He was finished. Fulmer lost his edge after the NC and never got it back.
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Yeah, I wanted so badly to see him turn it around. Considering our terrible hire of Kiffin as his replacement (and the looong trek through the wilderness that followed), maybe we should have been more patient with Fulmer. But it definitely seemed at the time that he just wasn't able to field a team that cared about winning at a high level.

I still admire him, though. And I will be eternally grateful that he brought our Vols a national championship in my lifetime.
 
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#19
#19
vol24/7/365 said:
I do think he could have turned it around!
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He earned the chance to turn it around. It was the perfect storm that led to his demise. Saban at Bama, Spurrier at USC, Urban Meyer at UF and Richt at UGA combined to hurt Vols recruiting, resulting in 4-5 fewer four and five star recruits every year. That, more than any reason led to the decline from a top 4 program to a top 20 program. Then came the demand to hire a OC to add some pop to the offense. Fulmer complied and hired Clawson, but as was pointed out by numerous fans, his offense took a full year to install successfully. When his first year didn't go well, Hamilton pulled the plug and the years in the football wilderness began with the short-sighted contract with Kiffen. Hindsight says we would have been much better off giving College Football Hall of Fame Coach Fulmer at least one more year. Fulmer's situation was very similar to Bobby Bowden at FSU and JoPa. Both had down years late in their careers and fans were clamoring for them to be fired because "the game had passed them by". Both turned it around. Fulmer may have as well.
 
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#20
#20
goldvol said:
that's a great sighting.
2 things: We should have had a better plan in place for transitioning in 2007 / 2008, and he was a terrible AD, who hired the worst possible candidate for head coach of Tennessee football, before then throwing that coach under the bus for cheating when in all likelihood, he was following Fulmer's own directives. Then quietly rode away into the Bahamian sunset
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I have to agree with this. Then hired Kellie Jolly. Never a good idea to hire a former VFL in head coaching position
 
#23
#23
goldvol said:
that's a great sighting.
2 things: We should have had a better plan in place for transitioning in 2007 / 2008, and he was a terrible AD, who hired the worst possible candidate for head coach of Tennessee football, before then throwing that coach under the bus for cheating when in all likelihood, he was following Fulmer's own directives. Then quietly rode away into the Bahamian sunset
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I actually think Pruitt could have played out. He had a good eye for talent.
 
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#25
#25
LAVol1 said:
He earned the chance to turn it around. It was the perfect storm that led to his demise. Saban at Bama, Spurrier at USC, Urban Meyer at UF and Richt at UGA combined to hurt Vols recruiting, resulting in 4-5 fewer four and five star recruits every year. That, more than any reason led to the decline from a top 4 program to a top 20 program. Then came the demand to hire a OC to add some pop to the offense. Fulmer complied and hired Clawson, but as was pointed out by numerous fans, his offense took a full year to install successfully. When his first year didn't go well, Hamilton pulled the plug and the years in the football wilderness began with the short-sighted contract with Kiffen. Hindsight says we would have been much better off giving College Football Hall of Fame Coach Fulmer at least one more year. Fulmer's situation was very similar to Bobby Bowden at FSU and JoPa. Both had down years late in their careers and fans were clamoring for them to be fired because "the game had passed them by". Both turned it around. Fulmer may have as well.
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So what youā€™re saying is, he couldnā€™t smack around Dinardo/ Donnan/Zook and Shula anymore and he got exposed??
 
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