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Phillip Fulmer (official thread)

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Fulmer isn't happy about the way things were portrayed in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. A writer named John Adams (who's been at the paper since 1987, ad is now a sports editor) said that Phil should be fired, and Fulmer had a reponse published in that same paper this morning.

Here is the Adams column from earlier this week (note - one obvious omission is that Fulmer also revoked Colquitt's scholarship):

2008/feb/18/ut-football-needs-a-change-at-the-top

Adams: UT football needs a change at the top
By John Adams
Originally published 09:14 p.m., February 18, 2008

The University of Tennessee football program desperately needs new leadership. And I'm not suggesting that the next quarterback needs to be more vocal or the team captains need to be more demonstrative.

UT's leadership problem is at the top.

Maybe you're way ahead of me on this. Maybe you realized as much after Florida beat the Vols by 39 points last September, and a mediocre Alabama team beat them by 24 in October.

Memphis Commercial Appeal sports columnist Ron Higgins didn't need to see the Alabama game. After the Florida game, he wrote that longtime UT football coach Phillip Fulmer should be fired.

Was his assessment premature? Maybe.
Was it wrong? No.

I reached the same conclusion Sunday night for a different reason. It's not just about the won-loss record. It's about the arrest record.

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Stating that this is the first time he has ever responded "directly in writing to a negative column", here is the response by Fulmer in today's Knoxville News-Sentinel:

2008/feb/21/coachs-first-job-is-as-educator-mentor

Coach's first job is as educator, mentor
Phillip Fulmer, UT football coach
Originally published 08:26 p.m., February 21, 2008

Editor's note: Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer has written this guest column in response to Tuesday's column by sports editor John Adams:

Most college football fans visualize the head coach pacing the sidelines on Saturday afternoon. But the truth is that our hardest work is done far from the view of fans, sportswriters, or television cameras.

In my 30 years of coaching, my proudest victories have come in places much quieter than Neyland Stadium - they've come when departing seniors stop by my office the day before graduating or when mothers send notes of thanks, acknowledging that the immature boys they sent to Knoxville have come home as responsible young men.

Those are the moments that are the greatest moments in coaching and the importance compels me to do something I have never done in my career - respond directly in writing to a negative column in the newspaper.

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Adams - Bottom line: UT has surpassed Miami as the poster team for bad behavior in college football. It?s the college equivalent of the Cincinnati Bengals.

:slappy::slappy::slappy:

Fulmer - At no time in my tenure has a player's football skill or athletic success been a factor in the way he was disciplined. Never. Our internal discipline is based on one factor alone: the course that is most likely to help that individual young man make amends and get his life straight.

Do you think anyone actually believes that?

At the very least Fulmer is guilty of recruiting a lot of kids with "very questionable character" that have eventually brought discredit to the UT program. Kind of reminds you of John Cooper. :(
 
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Mike Freeman (who was fired by a newspaper for false claims of a college degree) takes his hatchet out and throws it at Fulmer, whom he now calls "Chancellor Palpatine".

On CBS 's college football home page, Fulmer's picture has the caption "Crime Lord" on it.

img10666703.jpg


Crime lord?

sportsline

Cuffs click, cell doors slam shut and Fulmer skates by

So let me get this straight. The NCAA is the catalyst behind the firing of Indiana's Kelvin Sampson for making too many phone calls but does little to stop the felony-riddled reign of Phil "Chancellor Palpatine" Fulmer, who heads a Tennessee football program that has become perhaps the rottenest, most dastardly ever.

That sound you hear are the dots connecting. Bear with me for a second.

Sampson deserved to be fired. He broke the rules not once but several times. We all make mistakes but Sampson failed to take advantage of a golden second chance. Not only that, Sampson was arrogant. It was like he was saying to the administration: screw you. I'll give my recruit a ringy-dingy whenever I damn well please.

So good riddance.

Sampson might have been a chronic rules breaker, but what Fulmer is overseeing in Knoxville is almost an historic abomination. Tennessee players are running amok with the kind of scrofulous ruthlessness not seen in years.
And the players aren't committing just low-level misdemeanors. It's bad stuff. Stuff that makes Tennessee a recruiting ground for the Tony Soprano crime family.

...

I can't imagine what it takes for Fulmer to toss someone off the team. A meeting with the Taliban? Eating someone's liver with fava beans?

...

The motto of the Tennessee football program: If the players commit, Fulmer will acquit.

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DDN

SEC intrigue: Fulmer and the subpoena

By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer
HOOVER, Ala. ? Lawyers for a former Alabama football booster said they staked out the Southeastern Conference football media event Thursday and served Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer with a subpoena to testify about a lawsuit against the NCAA.
Fulmer initially denied seeing a subpoena, but later said he was given a piece of paper and didn't realize what it was.
The scene was much like the one he tried to avoid four years ago when he refused to come to the event in suburban Birmingham and took part by phone, incurring a $10,000 fine from the league.
A process server hired by lawyers for Wendell Smith of Chattanooga, Tenn., approached Fulmer as he stepped out of an SUV outside the suburban hotel where SEC holds its media days, said Brandon Blankenship, an attorney for Smith.
"He said, 'Coach Fulmer, I've got something for you,' and gave it to him," said Blankenship, of Birmingham.
Fulmer was not happy about answering questions from reporters about possibly being subpoenaed.
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Fulmer ready to face heat from fans

Loss to Georgia has coach under more pressure

ATHENS, Ga. ? There will be no earmuffs for Phillip Fulmer this week. The Tennessee coach said he fully expects to hear the biting words from critics, and some from his very own fan base.
"You stay in this business long enough, you will have ups and downs," Fulmer said following UT's loss at Georgia on Saturday. "We've won a lot more than we lost. I've been disappointed in every dang one of them that we've lost. I've felt like this. I'm not going to do anything but keep fighting."
UT stands at 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Many believed he was already on the hot seat entering the game, and with the loss to another league rival, it's not expected to cool down anytime soon.
Fulmer is 149-49 as UT's coach and is 93-33 in regular-season SEC games. But those numbers have taken a downward bump in recent years, including a 5-6 record in 2005 and this year's less-than-hot start.
Also, UT's recent record against rivals and key SEC opponents has been sagging. Florida has beaten UT four consecutive times. So has Auburn. And UT still has to face No. 2 Alabama this year. The Tide handed UT a 41-17 throttling last season.
The Vols had fared well against Georgia in recent years and had won three of the last four. But after Saturday, it became apparent that the Bulldogs could start a run of their own on UT.
Fulmer's players, however, have been quick to defend him. Recently, sophomore receiver Gerald Jones said that talk about Fulmer being fired made him laugh, and that Fulmer is Tennessee football. Jones once again defended Fulmer following Saturday's loss, all but guaranteeing Fulmer will be back next season.
For Fulmer, he's more concerned about the current situation. He said people will question his team's backbone and he is interested in seeing how his players respond.
But Fulmer, who once again accepted blame for the loss, didn't limit it to just himself.

Entire article: Fulmer ready to face heat from fans | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean
 
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ESPN is reporting that Fulmer is OUT at Knoxville.

espn

Sources: Fulmer agrees to step down as Vols coach


Phillip Fulmer, who a decade ago brought Tennessee its first national championship in 47 years, will not return as the Vols' coach next year, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

An announcement is being planned for later Monday at Neyland Stadium. The Vols (3-6, 1-5 SEC) have lost four straight games and are in danger of suffering their second losing season in the last four years.


Fulmer, who's won 150 games at his alma mater and is the dean of SEC coaches, met with Tennessee officials Monday morning, and they reached a mutual agreement that it would be best for all parties if Fulmer was not back next season.

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BB73;1313413; said:
ESPN is reporting that Fulmer is OUT at Knoxville.

Details to come.
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Not surprised...my dad retired and lives down that way, and he's been saying losing like they are will not be tolerated under any circumstances. What's worse is he has pissed away quite a few good defenses with terrible offenses in recent years. And, well, Vanderbilt may very well knock them from bowl contention. Other than that, how could they not keep him?
 
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Per ESPN's Chris Low, Fulmer has a $6 million buyout that's paid out over a 4-year period. It will cost an additional million or so for the assistants.

In other words, about 1 home game.

David Cutcliffe, Lane Kiffin, Boise State's Chris Peterson, Jim Grobe are some names he threw out there as potential replacements.
 
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UT fans here in Knoxville have been calling for Phil's head for a while now. I would say that a lot of factors went into his firing.
1. obviously the record.
2. the lack of offense compounded by the fact that Cutcliffe's offense is thriving at Duke, (that is right Duke football)
3. recruiting has steadily gone down hill and a lot of the bigger name recruits they have signed just haven't worked out, see Crompton.

The fans would accept Cutcliffe back with open arms.

On the bright side of UT's abissmal season, I can wear my Buckeye gear at the law school without catching too much shit. We might be 0-9 vs the SEC in bowls, but we aren't 3-6 this year.
 
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