Johnny Majors' History

#26
#26
nuts in South Carolina...That part I KNOW..BTW,Not defending anyone here...I think I said Majors was what he was without calling him a name...As for Fulmer, a backstabber? I have no proof and if anyone has something other than heresay,then air it..It doesnt change a thing in what happended today to throw around baloney like that when someone asks a point blank question..Oh I forgot, this is the internet, you can say whay you want with no recourse~~

]

I can't help but notice that you're posting anonymously too, JohnnyBall. So can the sanctimony.

It's clearly problematic to provide links to 16-year-old news stories, so anything you get here is by definition going to be hearsay. It was common knowledge at the time -- and by common, I mean that everybody around campus knew it -- that Fulmer was part of what was going on; that he was actively angling for the job. That wouldn't pass muster in a court or a newspaper, of course, but as contemporary eyewitness testimony as to the prevailing belief on campus at the time, I think it rises to the standard required on an Internet message board. If you require more "proof" to avoid being offended, then perhaps message boards aren't for you.
 
Last edited:
#27
#27
Your opinion of what a "true Vol" is means as much to most of this board as Bill Ayers' definition of a "good American."
Posted via VolNation Mobile

There are some people who have a D after their name, will claim he is a respected professor now. I wouldnt be one of them.
 
#28
#28
I can't help but notice that you're posting anonymously too, JohnnyBall. So can the sanctimony.

It's clearly problematic to provide links to 16-year-old news stories, so anything you get here is by definition going to be hearsay. It was common knowledge at the time -- and by common, I mean that everybody around campus knew it -- that Fulmer was part of what was going on; that he was actively angling for the job. That wouldn't pass muster in a court or a newspaper, of course, but as contemporary eyewitness testimony as to the prevailing belief on campus at the time, I think it rises to the standard of an Internet message board. If you disagree, then perhaps the Internet isn't for you.

It was VERY common knowledge that he was auditioning for the job and rubbed elbows with anyone that would listen.
 
#29
#29
This guy needs to shut up and quit crying. It may be different for some of you "older" fans, but I am 23 Ever since I have been able to care about football really, Cach Fulmer has been the Coach. So as far as Majors ,at least Fulmer isnt acting ignorant he accepted the decesion, and agreed to help his replacement. Majors cries every time he is asked about Tennessee Football Now that is not a TRUE VOL to me.

I'm as old as you and from what I gather Majors was/ is twice over the "Tennessee Legend" that Fulmer ever dreamed.

If Tennessee can get rid of Majors, they can get rid of anyone is what I'm saying.
 
#30
#30
This guy needs to shut up and quit crying. It may be different for some of you "older" fans, but I am 23 Ever since I have been able to care about football really, Cach Fulmer has been the Coach. So as far as Majors ,at least Fulmer isnt acting ignorant he accepted the decesion, and agreed to help his replacement. Majors cries every time he is asked about Tennessee Football Now that is not a TRUE VOL to me.


You need to settle it down......Johnny Majors as a player was 200000 times the Tennessee Vol that you'll ever be. Show some respect. Johnny Majors as a coach needed to go towards the end, much like your boy Fulmer. If you're 23 you should have learned respect for your fellow vols, & if not, don't get pissy when you get set straight.
 
#31
#31
nuts in South Carolina...That part I KNOW..

]

what was he tirading about? wanting a pay raise? i had not heard this chapter of the story.

johnny was supposed to be out for 3-4 months after his bypass surgery. he came back in 30 days. that was an insane move, as there is no way he was 100 per cent physically or mentally, and was incapable dealing with the demands of coaching in the SEC. if he did it due to loyalty and devotion, i truly feel sorry for him. if it was ego, not so much.

majors was a great player, and from a great TN football family. he did not live up to expectations as HC.
 
#32
#32
I'm as old as you and from what I gather Majors was/ is twice over the "Tennessee Legend" that Fulmer ever dreamed.

If Tennessee can get rid of Majors, they can get rid of anyone is what I'm saying.

It was roughly as if Peyton Manning (our other Heisman runner-up) went into college coaching, won a national championship at some place like Syracuse, and then walked away from that undefeated team to try to rebuild his alma mater when they sucked. It's hard to explain to young fans how much Majors was regarded as the Very Incarnation of Tennessee Football once upon a time. His coaching career had its ups and downs, and it obviously ended miserably, but at one point there was absolutely no question who the biggest legend in Tennessee football history was.
 
#33
#33
The difference in Majors and Fulmer is Majors was a prick! He was a good coach (not great) but he was not very likeable. He had a bigger ego and I don't think he loved UT very much. Fulmer lived and breathed UT! He did all his playing and coaching with class. I didn't think twice about Majors when he got canned, but today has been tough even though I knew we had to do this.
 
#34
#34
The difference in Majors and Fulmer is Majors was a prick! He was a good coach (not great) but he was not very likeable. He had a bigger ego and I don't think he loved UT very much. Fulmer lived and breathed UT! He did all his playing and coaching with class. I didn't think twice about Majors when he got canned, but today has been tough even though I knew we had to do this.

Wrong
 
#35
#35
The difference in Majors and Fulmer is Majors was a prick! He was a good coach (not great) but he was not very likeable. He had a bigger ego and I don't think he loved UT very much. Fulmer lived and breathed UT! He did all his playing and coaching with class. I didn't think twice about Majors when he got canned, but today has been tough even though I knew we had to do this.

How many coaches would walk away just hours after winning the National Championship to go back to his alma mater that finished 6-5.
 
#36
#36
The difference in Majors and Fulmer is Majors was a prick! He was a good coach (not great) but he was not very likeable. He had a bigger ego and I don't think he loved UT very much. Fulmer lived and breathed UT! He did all his playing and coaching with class. I didn't think twice about Majors when he got canned, but today has been tough even though I knew we had to do this.
how the hell can you say JM didn't love UT? Wow, just....wow
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#37
#37
Ok, bad choice of words. He did love UT but not near the level as Fulmer.
 
#38
#38
I saw a DVD where Majors and Fulmer were sat in the same room to talk on UT Football History. If Majors can be talked into doing that, the man loves UT.
 
#40
#40
Tennessee made a mistake not hiring Majors in 1970 at 32 instead of the 28 year old Bill battle. Clearly Majors best coaching was in the 1970's with Iowa State who never went to a bowl game and winning the NC at Pitt in 1976.

71 Sun Bowl, 72 Independence Bowl

Not that it matters...
 
#41
#41
I saw a DVD where Majors and Fulmer were sat in the same room to talk on UT Football History. If Majors can be talked into doing that, the man loves UT.

Wow, didnt know they actually did that. I bet there was HUGE tension there.
 
#46
#46
I don't like Johnny. He is an alcoholic, and a 7-win caliber head coach.

Gee, he must have been really lucky, then, because somehow he managed to win 9 or more games in 5 out of his last 7 full seasons. And that was back when 9 wins really meant something.
 
#47
#47
I can barely remember Majors replacing Bill Battle, but the first UT game I ever went to Battle was the coach.

I do remember quite a bit of Majors' career. He had some good teams but he had some faults as well. IMO, his biggest fault was not sticking with something that worked. In the later 80's, it seemed he'd show up at a game with a newly installed offense or defense that didn't work. Prime example was him opening up in a wide tackle 6 defense in Legion Field against Bama in 87 or 88, I don't remember which. That game was over in the first quarter.

I was at UT when Fulmer took over. Johnny came back from his heart surgury too early. He knew that, everyone knew that. He was worried by the fact that Fulmer had beat the sheite out of Georgia and Florida early on. I still remember that drowning I got at the Florida Game. It was the best student ticket I ever had while at the University, 40 yard line about 3 rows up in the upper deck. Water was shooting up out of those storm drains on the field (Astro turf back then) about 6 or 8 feet above the ground.

He could probably have lost to Bama and survived, but 3 straight losses killed him. I believe the majority of people felt like if Fulmer had been coach against Bama and could have gotten half the fire out of the team he got for the Florida game, we'd have won the Bama game too, and justifying loosing to Arkansas and South Carolina wasn't thinkable after we'd whipped Florida and Georgia.

Also, a couple weeks before the heart attack, Majors got stopped for DUI. He'd been stopped for it before and it had always been over looked. Evidently he said the wrong thing to the wrong officer that time and it like to have blew up in the University's face.

I wouldn't doubt Fulmer helped to put Majors out, but who wouldn't in that situation. We are talking about someone trying to go from Offensive Coordinator to head coach of a major SEC football team. You do what you have to do.

Skipper
 
#48
#48
I have heard about the drinking problems concerning Majors. No one is perfect and many a great coach has had drinking problems, example the legendary Paul Bear Bryant was an alcoholic.

The fact is Fulmer had much better treatment regarding his exit. He gets a nice buyout package of several million dollars and he will even be honored at the Kentucky game with a Phil Fulmer appreciation day.

Majors was a proven good coach. He built Iowa State and Pittsburg after both schools had been down for a long time, and of course won a National Championship at Pittsburg. UT's program had declined badly after Dickey left and Majors eventually built a strong program. When he left UT, the program was in good shape, not so in Fulmer's case.

I still say that Majors's treatment on his exit was unconscionable by the UT Administration. The man was seriously ill and had to have heart surgery. You don't go replacing someone under those circumstances. Johnny Majors was part of the UT family, an All-American at UT and his two brothers, Bobby and Bill, had successful football careers at UT. Bill Majors was a coach under Doug Dickey and was killed in a tragic train wreck. You just don't treat family that way in my opinion.
 
#49
#49
what does postly anonymously mean?? Do you want my name to make me more believable??I have no proof of Fulmer backstabbing Majors....I DO have proof of Majors ranting and raving to his superiors.."Common knowledge" to me doesnt equal proof...I dont doubt Fulmer was involved in the Majors deal..I just dont know is all Im saying.Strangely,I feel like we may be defending each other's position on this.. I think we might be on the same side..so let's just drop it..


I can't help but notice that you're posting anonymously too, JohnnyBall. So can the sanctimony.



It's clearly problematic to provide links to 16-year-old news stories, so anything you get here is by definition going to be hearsay. It was common knowledge at the time -- and by common, I mean that everybody around campus knew it -- that Fulmer was part of what was going on; that he was actively angling for the job. That wouldn't pass muster in a court or a newspaper, of course, but as contemporary eyewitness testimony as to the prevailing belief on campus at the time, I think it rises to the standard required on an Internet message board. If you require more "proof" to avoid being offended, then perhaps message boards aren't for you.
 
Last edited:
#50
#50
Here is the Fulmer version of the story - as told by Fulmer to my dad and other alumni on a golf trip during the summer of '92. Fulmer replaced Majors on this trip to Scotland because of Johnny's heart problems:

Fulmer said that a few years prior to '92, Majors had signed a new contract and told Phil it would be his last. He promised that he and Dickey would make sure Phil became head coach. Fulmer turned down several head jobs in the late 80s and early 90s (including Arkansas, I know).

As mentioned in earlier posts, Majors was demanding a new contract heading into the '92 season. Fulmer felt betrayed by Majors and told the alumni on this golf trip that if Johnny got a new contract, he would leave UT for a head job somewhere else.

No doubt he was applying that same kind of pressure to Dickey and others. No doubt that whole situation was much uglier than it needed to be. But imagine what UT football would be if Fulmer had left after the '92 season.
 

VN Store



Back
Top