Back in The Good Ole Days

[Sudden Impact]

I have no idea how this popped up on my screen, but it did. Had to watch it because it was, what it was.

What a team. DT QB, pound it hard running back, a solid defense with leadership and depth. LOS controlled. A little bit of luck. Hard nose football, faith and destiny.

This is what I think about when I think about Volunteer Football. I have watched four individuals bring us to the point we are at today. Hamilton, Fulmer, Kiffin and Dooley.

For those that did not see it the was the teams worst performance of the year. Not Syracuse because it can be written off because of first game jitters and first game post Manning.

1998 Arkansas vs. Tennessee (CBS Sports) - YouTube

Again enjoy.

 

[ManningBerry#1]

I agree with your post except for Fulmers name being mentioned. He's the only one that didn't look, or act, as if he was intentionally trying to sabotage our program, the rest, the hell with them.

 

[VolinMichigan]

Reminiscing is the lowest form of conversation. Forget about the past. It's all about the future.

 

[Rudy123]

These are the good ole days.....

We are not on probation! The Hamilton era is over! The days of rotating coaches in and out of U.T. are over. We have one of the grandest football stadiums ever, to include NFL stadiums. We have one of the best training facilities. We are in the greatest college football conferences.

When we keep looking at the past, as if they are the good ole days, then we may stop growing.

 

[BennisDrewer]

I agree with your post except for Fulmers name being mentioned. He's the only one that didn't look, or act, as if he was intentionally trying to sabotage our program, the rest, the hell with them.

I'm so sick of seeing people put Fulmer in the same category as Dooley, Kiffin, and Hamilton...

Fulmer lives, breathes, and bleeds orange....Did the dude fall off late into his career? Absolutely...but that doesn't mean he needs to be coupled with the black sheep of the UT staff.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Reminiscing is the lowest form of conversation. Forget about the past. It's all about the future.

I must profoundly disagree. Although these remarks from James Earl Jones' character in Field of Dreams pertained, of course, to baseball, they could just as easily have described those of us who have followed Tennessee football for 40 or 50 years (as I have):

"[They'll] watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again."

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Fulmer brought us to our best years since Neyland. And had only two losing seasons in 17 years. Lumping him in with losers is blasphemous.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Reminiscing is the lowest form of conversation. Forget about the past. It's all about the future.

It's only the lowest form of conversation when there is nothing good to reminisc about. Some movie quotes are just plain stupid. There is nothing wrong with reminiscing once in awhile.

You think Chicago Bulls fans don't enjoy reminiscing about the Jordan days? What about 49ers fans reminiscing about the 1980s?

 

[biganbad]

Fulmer is one of the reason that we have good ole days to talk about,,,,,, he got lazy at the end,,,,, but he had some awesome teams

 

[BanditVol]

I'm so sick of seeing people put Fulmer in the same category as Dooley, Kiffin, and Hamilton...

Fulmer lives, breathes, and bleeds orange....Did the dude fall off late into his career? Absolutely...but that doesn't mean he needs to be coupled with the black sheep of the UT staff.

Exactly

 

[Special Ed]

Good Ol' Days.

 

[#16s Dad]

I'm so sick of seeing people put Fulmer in the same category as Dooley, Kiffin, and Hamilton...

Fulmer lives, breathes, and bleeds orange....Did the dude fall off late into his career? Absolutely...but that doesn't mean he needs to be coupled with the black sheep of the UT staff.

Right on CF did great things for Tennessee before he lost the hunger.

Ck and Cd collectively nuked our program.

 

[gunner]

Fulmer is one of the reason that we have good ole days to talk about,,,,,, he got lazy at the end,,,,, but he had some awesome teams

Fulmer was at his best in the mid to late nineties, Cutcliff was the OC, Chavis the DC and Rodney Garner and others were pulling in top talent. Fulmer was the CEO that made it all run like a well oiled machine.

After Cut went to Ole Miss, the offense had plenty of talent but was much less productive under Sanders, and by this time the program had players getting arrested on a regular basis.

The Vols were never able to recapture the glory days of the nineties. There have been plenty of mistakes along the way to bring us the this point, and Fulmer is as responsible as anyone.

But in hindsight firing Fulmer and replacing him with Kiffin was the biggest of them all followed by the hiring of Dooley, and both of those decisions were made by Hamilton.

Just my two cents.

 

[utvolkyle06]

I don't blame the last two coaches we have had. They were what they were and like everyone else took the money and opportunity. I will always blame the administration and Athletic department. They made the choices, they negotiated the contracts they set the standards. At the time we still had the money and the reputation to pull a top 10 coach, but we went cheap and gambled on unproven coaching. Now we are paying a heavy price for mismanagement.

 

[gunner]

:good!:

I don't blame the last two coaches we have had. They were what they were and like everyone else took the money and opportunity. I will always blame the administration and Athletic department. They made the choices, they negotiated the contracts they set the standards. At the time we still had the money and the reputation to pull a top 10 coach, but we went cheap and gambled on unproven coaching. Now we are paying a heavy price for mismanagement.

Hamilton.

 

[gunner]

Right on CF did great things for Tennessee before he lost the hunger.

Ck and Cd collectively nuked our program.

I think a better way to say it is he lost his desire to win, but he never lost his hunger.

 

[Orangedogsrule]

CPF never lost the hunger and desire to win. A bunch of speculation gets rolled back around as if it is fact.

I sat behind the VOLS bench at the 2007 Outback Bowl and watched several times as Fulmer did everything any coach could do during a game to try to fire up a team. And watch as players on both sides put out some poor effort, almost as if they didn't care.

There are several factors involved in the VOLS losses those last couple of years (losing Coach Cutt etc) but Fulmer getting lazy, losing hunger and desire are not a part of that equation. Did he lose some of his edge, maybe so, but he dang sure was always bleeding orange.

 

[VolinMichigan]

CPF never lost the hunger and desire to win. A bunch of speculation gets rolled back around as if it is fact.

I sat behind the VOLS bench at the 2007 Outback Bowl and watched several times as Fulmer did everything any coach could do during a game to try to fire up a team. And watch as players on both sides put out some poor effort, almost as if they didn't care.

There are several factors involved in the VOLS losses those last couple of years (losing Coach Cutt etc) but Fulmer getting lazy, losing hunger and desire are not a part of that equation. Did he lose some of his edge, maybe so, but he dang sure was always bleeding orange.

Then what happened to his recruiting ability?

 

[MAD]

I think we give a little to much credit to Fulmer. He took over from a great Majors coach. Johnny would have gotten us there. Fulmer was just riding the wave of momentum and foundation that was already in place.

 

[volfanecs]

Good Ol' Days.

Fulmer days. Be careful for what you wish. Fire a 152-52, HOF, and NC. Brilliant move.

 

[volfanecs]

I think we give a little to much credit to Fulmer. He took over from a great Majors coach. Johnny would have gotten us there. Fulmer was just riding the wave of momentum and foundation that was already in place.

Crap. PHD. Piled Higher Deeper. Fulmer got us there. Recall Major's last year.

 

[oregonvol]

I think we give a little to much credit to Fulmer. He took over from a great Majors coach. Johnny would have gotten us there. Fulmer was just riding the wave of momentum and foundation that was already in place.

I don't think Majors would have gotten us there. He was on the downslope of his career and I give Dickey credit for knowing when to make a change (it was a gutsy move, one I don't think any of our subsequent ADs would be capable of). Fulmer did a great job in getting us to the next stage. But then, he spent almost a decade coasting and left the program in far worse shape than when he found it.

 

[volfanecs]

Then what happened to his recruiting ability?

Kiffin happened. Chased Boyd for one.

 

[vol-un-tear]

Phil>>>>>Dooley Kiffin and Hammy!

 

[volfanecs]

I think a better way to say it is he lost his desire to win, but he never lost his hunger.

Yeah right, you are real clever.