FULMER - Due Respect!…..

[Behr]

 

[Volinnooga]

Not the way I remember it. He wasn’t the first choice, but I think most fans were thinking that hiring a successful coordinator with NFL head coaching experience wasn’t a bad move.

and added pluses were that there was no buyout to contend with and Monte was part of the deal

 

[feathersax]

What a freaking idiotic post..........

Agree, but some just keep on ad nauseam.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Kiffen started the brothers for the same reason he played Bryce Brown and that was to show potential recruits if they come here, they can play early.

Hamilton became the AD because Shumaker was going on vacation and did not want the hiring of an AD pulling him back. So, he just called up Hamilton and told him he was getttge job and then sent out a short press release.

Fulmer is hands down the best coach we’ve had since Neyland. Had he just been given a sabbatical, we would still be on top for past 15 years!

Fulmer had no choice but to hire Pruitt! Who else was going to come here after that fiasco? Evidently, it was a worse job than Auburn!

On top of what? From 2002-2008 we lost less than 4 games just once. 1990s were really good. Mediocre 2002-2008, with 2 losing seasons during that stretch.

Fulmer was done. Other schools knew it too

 

[vol94]

Fulmer was aa a strong recruiter and brought TN to national relevance in the 90’s. However, something changed after the LSU SEC championship loss in 2001. Imo, better coaches arrived in the SEC in the 2000’s and Fulmer couldn’t keep up.


The hire to AD was a fire hazard but he still got paid though he “supposedly” retired.

While I am appreciative of the 98 championship team, Fulmer did less with more with elite talent in the 2000’s. That 2005 team was preseason number three yet finished sub-500.

It was time to move on and his hire to AD was a bandaid as the program was a dumpster fire.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Fulmer was the right guy to replace Majors. And it was time. Just wish the transition could have been smoother.

With Majors ego, don't know of any way possible to have changed the timeline and history there.

 

[posivol]

In my opinion, this is Coach Fuller’s Achilles heal. He was a very good judge of football playing talent but not very good at keeping the coaching staff at the same level as the SEC elites. The Pruitt hire was a disaster. Coach was too loyal to his buddies.

As fans, we need to let this go.

tn never ponied up money for asst coaches..even after fulmer won the natty his pay was mid level in the sec. he got a million dollar raise and promptly donated it back to the university.we hired wonder boy kiffin instead of bryan kelly who was all but signed sealed and ready to deliver.we went thru the fulmer curse and pretty much deserved it for the way he was fired.it was probably time to move on but not in the fashion it went down.the pruitt hire was all about using the bama system of recruiting to compete.worked well for kirby.pruitt was just a dumb sob, but he could recruit.

 

[Boston Vol]

I’ve made my opinion on Fulmer pretty clear over the years. That being said, I think the criticism that he receives for staff hires is overblown. Yes he had a couple of duds, but any coach who is in place for 15 years is going have a few of those. He also had some really quality hires. Dan Brooks, John Stucky, Lovie Smith, Rodney Garner, Mike Barry, Larry Slade, and more. His worst hire/promotion was Johnny Long. And that’s the one that probably hurt him the most. The program was never the same after John Stucky became ill.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

I’ve made my opinion on Fulmer pretty clear over the years. That being said, I think the criticism that he receives for staff hires is overblown. Yes he had a couple of duds, but any coach who is in place for 15 years is going have a few of those. He also had some really quality hires. Dan Brooks, John Stucky, Lovie Smith, Rodney Garner, Mike Barry, Larry Slade, and more. His worst hire/promotion was Johnny Long. And that’s the one that probably hurt him the most. The program was never the same after John Stucky became ill.

SO true!!

I still remember being at the 2006 LSU game and being genuinely concerned for the safety of our players. Looking at the two teams during warm-ups, we looked like a high school team compared to LSU. Their size and athleticism was downright frightening! It was clearly on another level compared to our players! Miraculously, we only lost 28-24 and probably should've won the game but...3rd/4th and Chavis!

 

[EconVol92]

Ok I'm going to defend Fulmer here in one sense. At the time he was interviewing coaching candidates, its not like he had a ton of options. The UT fanbase had just WILLED the cancelation of Schiano as new head coach, our prior AD went rogue and started talking to candidates unbeknownst to our administration, which got him fired, and the program overall was about as Radioactive as it could get. No coach worth their salt would've gotten within 1000 miles of our program at that time. Fulmer was tasked with choosing a head coach at a time when the program was in its most duress, perhaps ever! So it was down to Pruitt and Steele and the Alabama/Saban pedigree of Pruitt couldn't be ignored. I blame Fulmer for a lot but choosing Pruitt isn't one of them.

He could have had the Pirate or Kiffin and either had much more experience at being a head coach, also Pruitt had some baggage at both Georgia and Florida State.

I think that Huepel proves that you can get much better athletes here than you can many places and that if Kiffin or the pirates can do that well in Mississippi they could do better here, as Heupel’s offense has taken off and he could not get the same class of athletes at Missouri or UCF.

I know that many would not take Kiffin back, but if my memory serves me correct he basically said that he would crawl back to Knoxville for the job.

I don’t think Fulmer would consider Kiffin at that time as Kiffin embraced Majors while he was the coach and brought him back into the fold.

None of this is being said to the detriment of Heupel being our coach now, I’m just talking about what happened when Pruitt was hired.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

He could have had the Pirate or Kiffin and either had much more experience at being a head coach, also Pruitt had some baggage at both Georgia and Florida State.

I think that Huepel proves that you can get much better athletes here than you can many places and that if Kiffin or the pirates can do that well in Mississippi they could do better here, as Heupel’s offense has taken off and he could not get the same class of athletes at Missouri or UCF.

I know that many would not take Kiffin back, but if my memory serves me correct he basically said that he would crawl back to Knoxville for the job.

I don’t think Fulmer would consider Kiffin at that time as Kiffin embraced Majors while he was the coach and brought him back into the fold.

None of this is being said to the detriment of Heupel being our coach now, I’m just talking about what happened when Pruitt was hired.

I doubt Leach wouldve considered it after what happened to the previous AD who talked to him. As for Kiffin, In what reality did you see Fulmer rehiring his original replacement who bolted after one season? LOL. Kiffin was simply not an option.

 

[EconVol92]

I doubt Leach wouldve considered it after what happened to the previous AD who talked to him. As for Kiffin, In what reality did you see Fulmer rehiring his original replacement who bolted after one season? LOL. Kiffin was simply not an option.

We will just have to agree to disagree on this point.

I do feel that Kiffin should have been considered as I think that he had reinvented himself with both his work as OC at Bama and his humbling as head coach at USC.

Also, he had nothing to do with Fulmers firing and actually was handicapped by Fulmer not having some offensive linemen as noted in someone else’s earlier post.

Also, if memory serves me correct, I think Fulmer had admitted that he got lazy there at the end. I just don’t know if that was pre or post firing.

 

[LWSVOL]

He could have had the Pirate or Kiffin and either had much more experience at being a head coach, also Pruitt had some baggage at both Georgia and Florida State.

I think that Huepel proves that you can get much better athletes here than you can many places and that if Kiffin or the pirates can do that well in Mississippi they could do better here, as Heupel’s offense has taken off and he could not get the same class of athletes at Missouri or UCF.

I know that many would not take Kiffin back, but if my memory serves me correct he basically said that he would crawl back to Knoxville for the job.

I don’t think Fulmer would consider Kiffin at that time as Kiffin embraced Majors while he was the coach and brought him back into the fold.

None of this is being said to the detriment of Heupel being our coach now, I’m just talking about what happened when Pruitt was hired.

there is no booster I'm aware of that would support Kiffin returning. no chance he would ever be considered. JMO

 

[87&91ALUM]

The daily diversion thread. When Tennessee on the upswing, someone takes a shot. Sad. GBO! Fulmer contributed, VFL, and I liked him. Nuff said.

 

[Vol423]

Its time to quit bringing this up.

I don't know what some people are thinking. This thread gets started just about every year, and it never goes well.

 

[Vol423]

EVERYTHING you're saying is disingenuous, revisionist history. Kiffin was who most Vol fans wanted. You're not remembering this correctly at all. Unless you're willing to call 90% of Vol fans village idiots.

Also, I guaran-damn-tee you that in 2008, most Vol fans had no damn clue who Gary Patterson was and couldn't have picked him out of a damn lineup. Chris Peterson wasn't going anywhere because he had a special needs son and being in Boise put him very close to the specialists he needed.

I don't know what circle of friends you were hanging out with back in 2008-2009, but I don't know anybody that was enthused about UT hiring the latest dumpster fire to be fired by Al Davis. The thing that got a lot of Vol fans intrigued was that they were interested in having Monte Kiffin as our DC. Had he not been coming along as part of the package, I don't think Lane would have been welcomed at all.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I’ve made my opinion on Fulmer pretty clear over the years. That being said, I think the criticism that he receives for staff hires is overblown. Yes he had a couple of duds, but any coach who is in place for 15 years is going have a few of those. He also had some really quality hires. Dan Brooks, John Stucky, Lovie Smith, Rodney Garner, Mike Barry, Larry Slade, and more. His worst hire/promotion was Johnny Long. And that’s the one that probably hurt him the most. The program was never the same after John Stucky became ill.

It was his choice to promote from within when Cutcliffe left at the end of the 1998 season. It also hurt when Garner left

 

[GrayWaterCanine]

We will just have to agree to disagree on this point.

I do feel that Kiffin should have been considered as I think that he had reinvented himself with both his work as OC at Bama and his humbling as head coach at USC.

Also, he had nothing to do with Fulmers firing and actually was handicapped by Fulmer not having some offensive linemen as noted in someone else’s earlier post.

Also, if memory serves me correct, I think Fulmer had admitted that he got lazy there at the end. I just don’t know if that was pre or post firing.

Kiffin operated as if Fulmer had destroyed the program. Fulmer wasn't going to forget or forgive that. Also, the next time Fulmer acknowledges his failures will be the first time.

 

[Bloodrunsorange27]

View attachment 561757

Phillip Fulmer (From Winchester, TN) played for the VOLS as an Offensive Guard (With ALL SEC Honors) from 1969 - 1971. Tennessee posted a record of 30-5 while he was a player….

As Head Coach of the Volunteers he earned a record of 152 wins & 52 losses…..

Yeah, his AD duties may not have been that great……

But it would be hard to find ANYONE that bleeds BIG ORANGE more than Coach Phillip Fulmer!!!!

And, It took almost 15 years to find another decent coach to replace him!

It didn’t take 15 years because Fulmer was so hard to replace.
It took 15 years due to bad coaching hires and weak ADs

 

[Cobb-Webb 1989]

Fulmer stabbed Majors in the back and rode his coat tails to the head coaching job in 1992.

Majors stabbed his own back by ticking off Dickey during the 91 offseson.

But, Fulmer rolled with a program that Dickey and Majors had already built.

 

[Cobb-Webb 1989]

I’ve made my opinion on Fulmer pretty clear over the years. That being said, I think the criticism that he receives for staff hires is overblown. Yes he had a couple of duds, but any coach who is in place for 15 years is going have a few of those. He also had some really quality hires. Dan Brooks, John Stucky, Lovie Smith, Rodney Garner, Mike Barry, Larry Slade, and more. His worst hire/promotion was Johnny Long. And that’s the one that probably hurt him the most. The program was never the same after John Stucky became ill.

Fulmer should have never let Garner leave K-Town

$$$$$$

 

[Butch s]

We will just have to agree to disagree on this point.

I do feel that Kiffin should have been considered as I think that he had reinvented himself with both his work as OC at Bama and his humbling as head coach at USC.

Also, he had nothing to do with Fulmers firing and actually was handicapped by Fulmer not having some offensive linemen as noted in someone else’s earlier post.

Also, if memory serves me correct, I think Fulmer had admitted that he got lazy there at the end. I just don’t know if that was pre or post firing.

I think little kiffin should be punched in the face for ever entering our stadium again

 

[TNnative]

would appreciate your background on Fulmer "pulling the strings". What exactly does that mean?? Details would be great.

Thank you in advance.

Just the same as he was with Pruitt.

 

[TNnative]

I don't believe anyone was. Fulmer, Summit and Peterson all supported the Hamilton hire.

There may have been but I sure can't recall if there was or not.

What did you expect them to say? No?

 

[GoVols1961]

Majors stabbed his own back by ticking off Dickey during the 91 offseson.

But, Fulmer rolled with a program that Dickey and Majors had already built.

I think Fulmer deserves some credit for building that program as well. He had a lot to do with recruiting and coaching before he became the head coach.