The Worst Firing In Sports History Was

#51
#51
Fulmer did a great job throughout the remainder of the nineties, mostly because he knew how to suuround himself with capable coaches. He did well until the 2001 SEC CG. That loss took all the fire out of him.

I was at that game. Frankly, I don' t think Volnation has gotten over it and I know Fulmer and Co. didn't. I remember telling some family members on the way back to Nashville that I thought we were heading into some troubled waters for years to come after that game.

Remember...we had two 1st round draft picks at DT (Henderson, Haynesworth), Stallworth and Washington at WR, and others spread over the field. To make it even more painful, we knocked QB Rohan Davey (sp?) and the starting RB out of the game AND we had already beaten LSU in the regular season. They beat us with backups.

Had we won, we would have played Miami in the Rose Bowl for the NC. But Fulmer and Co. were still celebrating the victory AT Fla which was the 1st time in 30 years that had ever happened.

Fulmer literally snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.
 
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#53
#53
CountVolcula said:
We don't have to rehash his career do we?

He did well in a weak SEC. Once the SEC got powerful, he began to slide

Thats just not a coincidence
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Funny how we say the SEC is the toughest conference, unless CPF is the subject. Then it is a weak conference.
YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE.
 
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#55
#55
volfanecs said:
Funny how we say the SEC is the toughest conference, unless CPF is the subject. Then it is a weak conference.
YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE.
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The SEC of the 90s isn't the SEC of the 21st century. There was a much larger talent disparity between teams then. The SEC has won how many consecutive national championships in a row now? 6?

Fulmer did great but he was simply outclassed by the new breed of SEC coaches.
 
#56
#56
TheDeeble said:
The SEC of the 90s isn't the SEC of the 21st century. There was a much larger talent disparity between teams then. The SEC has won how many consecutive national championships in a row now? 6?

Fulmer did great but he was simply outclassed by the new breed of SEC coaches.
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And the only team that had the talent to match UT and Fulmer was Florida and Spurrier. Seems like Fulmer had an issue there
 
#58
#58
utvols74 said:
Fulmer did a great job throughout the remainder of the nineties, mostly because he knew how to suuround himself with capable coaches. He did well until the 2001 SEC CG. That loss took all the fire out of him.

I was at that game. Frankly, I don' t think Volnation has gotten over it and I know Fulmer and Co. didn't. I remember telling some family members on the way back to Nashville that I thought we were heading into some troubled waters for years to come after that game.

Remember...we had two 1st round draft picks at DT (Henderson, Haynesworth), Stallworth and Washington at WR, and others spread over the field. To make it even more painful, we knocked QB Rohan Davey (sp?) and the starting RB out of the game AND we had already beaten LSU in the regular season. They beat us with backups.

Had we won, we would have played Miami in the Rose Bowl for the NC. But Fulmer and Co. were still celebrating the victory AT Fla which was the 1st time in 30 years that had ever happened.

Fulmer literally snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Click to expand...

Damn remember it just like it was yesterday......2nd string QB draws and a dropped pass....or two.....

Yea you are right.....it was the beginning of the slump.....we waited too late to fire, combined with a smoke and mirrors con man hiring, and a coach that could not do x and o's. Funny that CPF told boosters TN could win 2 more NC's in the next 5 years....
 
#59
#59
Drivebye said:
Johnny Majors?
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naked-gun-facepalm-1.gif
 
#60
#60
volfanecs said:
Jerry Jones firing Jimmy Johnson as the Dallas Cowboys coach.

The second happened in Knoxville.

Before this is merged, Happy Thanksgiving to all the good folks of VN.
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Agree on your number 1. Not so much on number 2.
 
#61
#61
Those that complain about how bad it was after 2001, do you all remember the records after that?

2002: 8-5
2003: 10-3 (tied for SEC East, beat Florida, beat Bama)
2004: 10-3 (won SEC East, beat Florida, beat Bama, beat UGA, beat USC)
2005: 5-6
2006: 9-4 (beat Bama, beat USC, demolished Cal)
2007: 10-4 (won SEC East)
2008: 5-7
Totals: 57-32

Yeah, that's REALLY awful. Keep in mind, that for the majority of UTs history (minus Neyland's tenure and the first half of Fulmer's career) the number of wins is about average. So to say that Fulmer "took Tennessee down" is absolutely ignorant. He may have brought them up and then down to what it used to be, but the firing of him is really what brought on this crap we're in now.
 
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#62
#62
volfanecs said:
Jerry Jones firing Jimmy Johnson as the Dallas Cowboys coach.

The second happened in Knoxville.

Before this is merged, Happy Thanksgiving to all the good folks of VN.
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I'm not sure the Fulmer firing even registers on the radar as his firing was very justified.
 
#63
#63
Marcellus Maximus fired as coach of the Olympic gladiator squad in 34 BC for having a 24 yr old slave girl on the payroll
He wrecked his chariot and she fell off
 
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#64
#64
ncvol17 said:
Marcellus Maximus fired as coach of the Olympic gladiator squad in 34 BC for having a 24 yr old slave girl on the payroll
He wrecked his chariot and she fell off
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That's still argued about.
Fell/pushed? Depends on who you ask.
 
#65
#65
If NO lets Sean Payton walk, though not a firing, would be one of the worst moves for that franchise in a looong time.
 
#66
#66
David Cutcliffe getting fired from Ole Miss.

Rod Delmonico from Tennessee baseball

Any of the Billy Martin firings from the Yankees.

Joe Torre from the Yankees

Jimmy Johnson from the Cowboys
 
#67
#67
whobethis16 said:
Those that complain about how bad it was after 2001, do you all remember the records after that?

2002: 8-5
2003: 10-3 (tied for SEC East, beat Florida, beat Bama)
2004: 10-3 (won SEC East, beat Florida, beat Bama, beat UGA, beat USC)
2005: 5-6
2006: 9-4 (beat Bama, beat USC, demolished Cal)
2007: 10-4 (won SEC East)
2008: 5-7
Totals: 57-32

Yeah, that's REALLY awful. Keep in mind, that for the majority of UTs history (minus Neyland's tenure and the first half of Fulmer's career) the number of wins is about average. So to say that Fulmer "took Tennessee down" is absolutely ignorant. He may have brought them up and then down to what it used to be, but the firing of him is really what brought on this crap we're in now.
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For those that don't believe me that he was on par for the history, here are the records by decade.

1961-70: 82-31
1971-80: 69-44
1981-90: 83-34
1991-00: 98-24
(1993-00: 80-18)
2001-10: 81-48
(2001-08: 68-35)

Parentheses are just his years. Our "history of dominance" looks just like the **** years of Fulmer. Hmmm...
 
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#70
#70
Volinnooga said:
The Pearl firing was unfortunately deserved though.
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Sad but true. If Fulmer was never let go, we would still be relevant. I wanted him gone, but he should have never been let go unless a monumential hire was 100%. Hindsight is always 20/20 though.
 
#71
#71
We went around the table today at dinner, my whole platoon and myself and said what we were thankful for.

I said that Dooley was fired and my friends responded, "Really man.. out of the whole year that's it."

To which I retorted, "Well he ruined my whole year, so yeah, it's fitting."
 
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#73
#73
whobethis16 said:
Those that complain about how bad it was after 2001, do you all remember the records after that?

2002: 8-5
2003: 10-3 (tied for SEC East, beat Florida, beat Bama)
2004: 10-3 (won SEC East, beat Florida, beat Bama, beat UGA, beat USC)
2005: 5-6
2006: 9-4 (beat Bama, beat USC, demolished Cal)
2007: 10-4 (won SEC East)
2008: 5-7
Totals: 57-32

Yeah, that's REALLY awful. Keep in mind, that for the majority of UTs history (minus Neyland's tenure and the first half of Fulmer's career) the number of wins is about average. So to say that Fulmer "took Tennessee down" is absolutely ignorant. He may have brought them up and then down to what it used to be, but the firing of him is really what brought on this crap we're in now.
Click to expand...

You failed to mention Cal demolished us the following year.
 
#74
#74
volfanecs said:
Funny how we say the SEC is the toughest conference, unless CPF is the subject. Then it is a weak conference.
YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE.
Click to expand...

Coaches in the SEC in 1997, and in 2007

Alabama - Mike DuBose to Nick Saban
Arkansas - Danny Ford to Houston Nutt
Auburn - Terry Bowden to Tommy Tuberville
Florida - Steve Spurrier to Urban Meyer
Georgia - Jim Donnan to Mark Richt
Kentucky - Hal Mumme to Rich Brooks
LSU - Gerry DiNardo to Les Miles
Ole Miss - Tommy Tuberville to Ed Orgeron
Mississippi State - Jackie Sherrill to Sylvester Croom
South Carolina - Brad Scott to Steve Spurrier
Vanderbilt -Woody Widenhofer to Bobby Johnson

From where I sit, that's five substantial upgrades (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina), one obvious downgrade (Ole Miss), two lateral moves at the top (Florida and Auburn), and three lateral moves toward the bottom of the conference (Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Mississippi State).

As the conference strengthened, UT went from demolishing everyone within the conference to having all sorts of issues with teams like Georgia and Alabama.
 
#75
#75
bam15 said:
'Ello -- Belichick en Cleveland. JJ was sort of mutual to be honest.
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Belichick in Cleveland was a lot like the Belichick assistants in their various head coaching gigs. Not in terms of success, but in terms of being a supremely arrogant bastard despite having done nothing as a head coach to warrant it.

He was five years in Cleveland, had a losing record overall (36-44), and made the playoffs once. He feuded with Bernie Kosar, and cut him midseason because Kosar had the audacity to audible to a long touchdown. When Kosar was benched, the Browns were 5-2...they lost that game, and he was released the next day. Cleveland went 2-6 the rest of the way and missed the playoffs. They'd scored 21+ points four times in those first seven games, and only managed it once the rest of the way (against the 4-11 Rams).

Late-season collapses were a trademark of the Belichick years. In 1991, Cleveland went from 4-4 to a 6-10 finish. 1992 went from 5-4 (and 7-6) to 7-9. 1993 from 5-2 to 7-9. 1995 from 3-1 to 5-11, with a minimum of injuries.

In 1995, no one in the world thought that he'd do anything as a head coach. It was thought that he'd rebound as a coordinator, then continue on carving out his little Dave Campo or Norv Turner-style niche as a great coordinator and awful head coach.
 
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