He is by far the most selfish, egotistical scoundrel that has ever crossed this program. He did whatever he could to screw over whoever he could in order to retain power. It started with Johnny Majors, a man who gave him his first big break, and ended with the biggest middle finger to a collegiate fanbase you could find.
After getting a super, duper friendly contract that let him establish "8 wins gives automatic contract extension" he became so scared Dave Clawsen would take his job, sabotaged the offense intentionally so Clawsen couldn't run his show and went 5-7. He got fired, took zero responsibility as he let his players cause a scene at his press conference without saying a word, then no showed so Tennessee would lose to Wyoming and not get a bowl for extra practices, all while take a $6M buyout on the way, taking no responsibility for the program.
Say what you want about John Currie but he had a well established head coach lined up to take over the program in Mike Leach. In a time where Tennessee fans were fuming, hurt and lost, Phil could have rallied the fanbase or offered public support to the program. Instead, like a snake, he weaseled his way into an over her head Chancellor, spilled lies and led a mutiny to take back power because he held a grudge over being fired by an AD that had not been involved with the program in almost a decade. He then took over the AD with no actual experience how to run a modern P5 collegiate program, didn't hire a search firm to help vet or assist in the hiring of a football coach during a critical moment for the program and hired a goober that almost destroyed the program who could have gotten us severe sanctions if Donde Plowman and Randy Boyd hadn't stepped up. Then, instead of take responsibility for his actions and leave with some form of a good name and retire properly, he took a $1M buyout firing disguised as a retirement to go away, because Phil doesn't cared about the University of Tennessee, he only cares about himself and his pockets. He lied about knowing what was going on as Pruitt ran rampant breaking NCAA rules even though he specifically stated he was supposed to fix the football program. He had the gall to say he left the program better than what he had, which was a total lie, and couldn't take any ownership in his press conference and didn't apologize to the university or its fans for letting it get as bad as it did.
Not only that, he alienated Rick Barnes (MAYBE THE EASIEST DUDE TO DEAL WITH IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL) so bad Barnes was going to take the UCLA job WITHOUT A COUNTER OFFER until Randy Boyd and boosters actually got involved to retain Barnes because Barnes was so fed up with how Phil did his job. He hired Kelly Harper, who while a good person, had shown she could not win at a P5 school because she was a UT grad and he didn't know enough about women's basketball to know who to actually hire. He did zero in terms of renovations or progress for facilities and somehow made the football program worse from the day he was hired.
He constantly didn't hire great people, perpetually fearing he would get replaced because, as a snake, that's how he got the job to begin with. David Cutcliffe carried his water and showed he was a mediocre coach once Cut left. He's a blight on this program and the 1998 National Title doesn't cover his sins. He squandered countless teams while the SEC was down, got his ass handed to him by Steve Spurrier year after year, then Mark Richt and one a singular SEC title with freaking Peyton Manning as his QB. He's a mediocre football coach that lucked into an awesome situation that Johnny Majors built and lucky that David Cutcliffe/John Chavis was already on staff when he backstabbed Majors for the job.
He's a disgrace to the university and the athletic department and they should rename Phillip Fulmer Way, instead calling it David Cutcliffe Road. I hope he never gets honored at the university again. He's a selfish con artist who cared more about himself and used his status as a alumni with his "aw shucks" demeanor as a ruse to step on people and destroy careers to get what he wanted.
