Did anyone ever try to hire Fulmer away?

#76
#76
BigOrangeTrain said:
Funny people have trashed Fulmer on here. Yet ever since he was fired, we have been in the tank.
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No, we went in the tank when David Cutcliff left . He is the only reason we were as stable as we were for years. David was the only positive influence in terms of discipline !!!!!
 
#77
#77
If my memory is correct, I recall the Cincinnati Bengals tried to make a run for Fulmer in the early 2000s.

Obviously no other college team tried to hire him away because of his perfect situation.....successful head coach at his alma mater, with very few schools during his term that could be considered an upgrade to Tennessee because of the success his teams had attained.
 
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#78
#78
TennesseeThumper said:
Yes, and in large part because of his doings during his last 4 years. He certainly had a large part in starting the free fall.

Fulmer was a HOF coach his first 10 years at UT.

He was a mediocre at best coach his last 6.

It was time for him to go. The mistake wasn't in firing Fulmer. The mistake was made in making a questionable hire in Kiffin, and then following that mistake up with the debacle that was Dooley.
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Why... WHY don't folks get it??? Took it down he did.
 
#79
#79
TVOL71 said:
I do sort of wonder if Butch does well in the next couple of years, and the Michigan or Mich. State job come open (or even the Lions) if he might take one of those to be closer to home. No need to be concerned about that for a little while, I guess.
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Given Tennessee's history with Coach Fulmer, what would you do? Knowing that the first inevitable off year will bring out the "firing squad", would that not cause you to consider all options? If a program does not have loyalty to its coaches why should they have loyalty to a program? If he were to wait until he is fired his stock goes down and he loses opportunities. I'm not taking a poke at our fanbase, by the way, we see it every year around the NCAA in all sports. The revenue at stake these days makes for strange bedfellows.
 
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#81
#81
volgrad1985 said:
If my memory is correct, I recall the Cincinnati Bengals tried to make a run for Fulmer in the early 2000s.

Obviously no other college team tried to hire him away because of his perfect situation.....successful head coach at his alma mater, with very few schools during his term that could be considered an upgrade to Tennessee because of the success his teams had attained.
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Good post.
 
#83
#83
Did anyone ever try to hire Fulmer away?

Shoney's is still trying to land the Big Boy!!
 
#84
#84
Smokie_is_my_dude said:
I cant remember back that far, but did any big programs try and talk to Fulmer and hire him away from Tennessee? I would tend to think not because he was such a Tennessee guy. but his resume was outstanding in the 90's and into the early 2000's. I know the coaching carousel was not nearly the same as it is now, but i was wondering if anyone could remember any other schools that came calling? I figured i would ask since everyone is paranoid about other schools poaching our current staff.
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I remember two different things concerning the Fulmer era. One is that if Dickey had not hired Fulmer as the head coach, then Clemson likely would have hired him.

Secondly, I recall that the Atlanta Falcons wanted Chavis to be there defensive co ordinator at one time, but he turned it down.

Other than those two things, I can't recall any other schools even being interested in any of our coaching staffs.
 
#86
#86
oregonvol said:
No.

People need to realize that what happened with Lane Kiffin was the product of a number of special circumstances (USC being in a tough bind, Lane having absolutely no scruples, Hamilton not understanding how to negotiate a contract, etc.) and it was a dumb move that both schools obviously regret. It's very unlikely to happen to us ever again.
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Horse manure. He was rumored to be a candidate for the Carolina Panthers at one point. There was not any talk of him going to another school, but there was never any talk of other coaches at major programs going anywhere else also. SOS was never a candidate anywhere prior to deciding to leave UF, Bowden never was, Osbourne never was, and neither was Carr. Those were all the other coaches on top when Fulmer was, and they also were all at top programs. Bottom line... a coach at a top program never used to be a candidate anywhere else because they would stay at the same school. As the rumors of Saban to Texas show, that's not the case anymore. But in the 90s it would have been really odd for another school to go after Fulmer.

But there was quite a bit of talk he might become the Panthers coach at one point.
 
#87
#87
Doyle Hargraves said:
The tank looks like the penthouse right now.
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Yep. I would rather have tolerated a couple more "mediocre" 8-4/9-3 years under Fulmer and waited for the right coach to come along, or for him to move on at his own pace. Water under the bridge now though.

But all the know it alls that were sure all we needed to do was change coaches can keep eating that huge, heaping pile of crow. :)
 
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#89
#89
Rudy123 said:
I remember two different things concerning the Fulmer era. One is that if Dickey had not hired Fulmer as the head coach, then Clemson likely would have hired him.

Secondly, I recall that the Atlanta Falcons wanted Chavis to be there defensive co ordinator at one time, but he turned it down.

Other than those two things, I can't recall any other schools even being interested in any of our coaching staffs.
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I remember talk of Chavis as an NFL LB coach but not a DC. Would have been a big step
 
#90
#90
BanditVol said:
Yep. I would rather have tolerated a couple more "mediocre" 8-4/9-3 years under Fulmer and waited for the right coach to come along, or for him to move on at his own pace. Water under the bridge now though.

But all the know it alls that were sure all we needed to do was change coaches can keep eating that huge, heaping pile of crow. :)
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I was one of those know it alls and eat crow on a daily basis. That being said, if the idiot in charge of the firing/hiring had a clue, things wouldn't have turned out nearly as bad as they did for the program.
 
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#91
#91
Doyle Hargraves said:
I was one of those know it alls and eat crow on a daily basis. That being said, if the idiot in charge of the firing/hiring had a clue, things wouldn't have turned out nearly as bad as they did for the program.
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Yes, but coaching changes are always a roll of the dice. Even highly regarded coaches sometimes flame out. A good example is Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. Heck, bammer wanted Rod before they hired Saban...DOT!

The Michigan situation is similar to UT in many ways...Nebraska was another 90s powerhouse still struggling to get back. Heck, prior to this year, even FSU struggled.

If you compare those four programs, the FSU approach worked out best. They let their legend stay and be mediocre for about a decade, then eased him out the door with a "coach in waiting". It worked I guess.

But I think Tennessee can finally put the last 5 years to rest. We have a great recruiting class and Butch, whatever his eventual legacy at UT, is and will be much better than Dooley. (And yeah, that's a pretty low standard lol...).
 
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#92
#92
BanditVol said:
Yep. I would rather have tolerated a couple more "mediocre" 8-4/9-3 years under Fulmer and waited for the right coach to come along, or for him to move on at his own pace. Water under the bridge now though.

But all the know it alls that were sure all we needed to do was change coaches can keep eating that huge, heaping pile of crow. :)
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Given that 2 of his last 4 were losing seasons, including his last, what makes you believe that UT would go back to 8-4/9-3 rather than continue the downward slide he was on?

Rationalize it all one wants, but that argument just doesn't hold water.
 
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#96
#96
TennesseeThumper said:
Given that 2 of his last 4 were losing seasons, including his last, what makes you believe that UT would go back to 8-4/9-3 rather than continue the downward slide he was on?

Rationalize it all one wants, but that argument just doesn't hold water.
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He would not have had three straight losing seasons and win one conference game in 2011 and 2012. What was the record in 2007? I can't help but think Boyd or Petty would have been good for the program. Talented, solid character and four year players.
 
#97
#97
volfanecs said:
Examples?
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If you really need examples provided to you then you've been in a cave since 2008 and beyond. Nothing was ever his fault. Perfect storm. Couldn't find time to go by Alcoa High to see Randall Cobb. Got to watch the film. I've built equity.

Please. You really don't have a clue.
 
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#98
#98
thebjd said:
He would not have had three straight losing seasons and win one conference game in 2011 and 2012. What was the record in 2007? I can't help but think Boyd or Petty would have been good for the program. Talented, solid character and four year players.
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OK. Read this sloooooooowwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyy:

Boyd injured his knee his senior year of high school and had to have surgery in the summer before what would have been his true freshman year. He ended up having to redshirt and wasn't ready to play until the middle of his redshirt freshman year at Clemson. He played very little in that year. He wasn't a starter at Clemson until in to his redshirt sophomore year there, which was three years out of high school. Do you think that Fulmer could have magically flipped a switch and healed his knee to the point that it would have been any different at UT?

Petty was a relative unknown. He didn't play at Baylor until his 4th year, and yes, I realize that he had a pretty good QB named Griffin in front of him for his first couple of years. That said, he wasn't exactly a highly rated prospect coming out of high school. It took him a while to get ready to play and climb up the Baylor depth chart at QB. There's no guarantee that he would have been the answer for Fulmer right out of the gate, either.

Fulmer needed immediate help at QB, and at a lot of other positions, too. To say that he would have turned it around is just pure speculation and the talent level just wasn't there, even with signing Boyd and/or Petty.

As I said before, firing Fulmer wasn't the wrong thing to do. The two hires that followed Fulmer were the issues. I'm simply amazed that the University of Fulmer fans tend to completely ignore that two of his last 4 seasons were losing seasons, and that the talent level had gotten so low. He was in charge. He made the hires, he made the fires, and he signed off on who did and didn't get an offer. It was his show, and the show had come to a point of a change in directors.
 
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#99
#99
TVOL71 said:
I think Fulmer was a good coach who was helped by great co-ordinators, Chavis and Cutcliff, When Cutcliff wasn't there, they often struggled offensively, and Chavis often had top 10 defenses (and still does, although the early departures for the pros from LSU tend to hurt him some there).
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This. I think bringing Cutcliffe back was the nail in the coffin for Fulmer and his tenure. Not from a short-term perspective, as Cutcliffe really turned the offense around and in two seasons had UT in the SEC championship game, but from the larger perception -- Cutcliffe left, the offense seemed to founder once the last of that 1997-1998 group graduated in 2001, and things were getting worse each year. Then Cutcliffe comes back, and offensive production suddenly lights up again. Then Cutcliffe leaves and we go in the offensive tank next season. For better or for worse, that tainted peoples' perceptions of Coach Fulmer, and made it look as if he was only as good or as bad as his coordinators beneath him were. (Contrast this with Saban, where people constantly hire away his coordinators and Alabama never skips much of a beat). It created a perception that he was less a complete coach and more of a "CEO," similar to what Mack Brown was at Texas. But then you have other coaches like Saban or Malzahn, coaches who live and breathe strategy and scheme and the like, and prompts the thought -- "if these guys are the ones doing all the work, then what are you doing?" And if you're a CEO-type who's not really managing the business, well ... there you have it. Again, for better or for worse.
 
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