Fulmer’s legacy?

How do you view CPF’s legacy as a coach and AD?

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#203
#203
GAVol said:
Johnny didn’t lose the job for no reason. 1990 and 1991 were the exact kind of seasons that everybody got pissed at Fulmer for post 1998.
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We won the Sugar Bowl after the 1990 season and went 9-3 in 1991. That's much better than years that got Fulmer criticism. Fulmer used to brag about his 9 win seasons.
Johnny lost his job in large part because Fulmer was actively backstabbing him.
 
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#206
#206
EasternVol said:
We won the Sugar Bowl after the 1990 season and went 9-3 in 1991. That's much better than years that got Fulmer critisism. Fulmer used to brag about his 9 win seasons.
Johnny lost his job in large part because Fulmer was actively backstabbing him.
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Losing 5 and tying 2 more in 90 and 91 was the definition of underachieving. The talent on those teams was insane. It’s the same thing that was happening to Fulmer from 99-07. Obviously there were 2 awful years in 05 and 08, but we endured about 4 or 5 of those with Majors.

There’s no need to tear either of them down. They both clearly did more good than bad.
 
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#212
#212
Outside of us and Florida the league was just terrible in the 90’s. UGA, Bama and LSU were way down. It’s not coincidence Fulmer’s decline started with the hiring of Saban, Richt and Meyer. That ‘98 team had 20 NFL starters and 6 all pro’s in the 2 deep and came a whisker of losing 5 games.
 
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#213
#213
Based on his having won a National Championship I for one cannot understand how anyone could rate him as poor. I get he had his fair share of issues but to my mind the worst he could be is midrange. I’m not rating the guy at all. But some of you rating him poor must have a personal reason to run the man down, like he banged your mom in the backseat of a 67 Chevy and never called her back for a second date. Get over it.
 
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#214
#214
BigNasty said:
Outside of us and Florida the league was just terrible in the 90’s. UGA, Bama and LSU were way down. It’s not coincidence Fulmer’s decline started with the hiring of Saban, Richt and Meyer. That ‘98 team had 20 NFL starters and 6 all pro’s in the 2 deep and came a whisker of losing 5 games.
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That always seems like the truth until you consider that from 92-99, Bama won 2 SEC titles and a national championship. UGA won 9 games 3 times, Auburn had an undefeated season, Mississippi State was going about as good as ever under Jackie Sherrill, Arkansas was in the top 10 in the late 90s. The SEC was weaker, but not to the degree your argument implies.

Your point about the 2000s is definitely true. UGA, Bama, LSU all took a step forward at our expense and we fell behind.
 
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#215
#215
GAVol said:
That always seems like the truth until you consider that from 92-99, Bama won 2 SEC titles and a national championship. UGA won 9 games 3 times, Auburn had an undefeated season, Mississippi State was going about as good as ever under Jackie Sherrill, Arkansas was in the top 10 in the late 90s. The SEC was weaker, but not to the degree your argument implies.

Your point about the 2000s is definitely true. UGA, Bama, LSU all took a step forward at our expense and we fell behind.
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Yep. People have short memories when it comes to the league back then or, for whatever reason, appear to have something against Fulmer. He was a very good coach and recruiter period and his legacy remains intact for me regardless of his disappointing stint as an AD.
 
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#216
#216
GAVol said:
That always seems like the truth until you consider that from 92-99, Bama won 2 SEC titles and a national championship. UGA won 9 games 3 times, Auburn had an undefeated season, Mississippi State was going about as good as ever under Jackie Sherrill, Arkansas was in the top 10 in the late 90s. The SEC was weaker, but not to the degree your argument implies.

Your point about the 2000s is definitely true. UGA, Bama, LSU all took a step forward at our expense and we fell behind.
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Touche’. The point I was attempting to make is Fulmer out talented teams. He rarely if ever out coached them. I remember so many Vandy and Kentucky one score games mid way through 4th quarter. Question: How many games did Fulmer win with equal or lesser talent??
 
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#217
#217
BigNasty said:
Touche’. The point I was attempting to make is Fulmer out talented teams. He rarely if ever out coached them. I remember so many Vandy and Kentucky games within one score mid way the 4th quarter. Question: How many games did Fulmer win with equal or lesser talent??
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To his credit, the first 10 years of his career he just outrecruited everybody. It’s funny though… he was a good play caller back in the day to the point that he overcame Majors’ tendency to turn every game into a tractor pull. Then, the longer he coached, the more he’d play it conservative.
 
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#218
#218
volfanhill said:
Bc that's 100% irrelevant to his time here
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Is it? Speaks volumes about how ADs viewed his coaching ability and his time in Knoxville. Larry Coker, Mack Brown, Les Miles, and Jimbo Fisher all found other coaching jobs after having won a championship and then being forced out. Fulmer is more like Ed Orgeron. At least Orgeron took the money and ran. Fulmer took the program into the ditch a second time, then took the money and ran. Like other posters have said in this thread, just look at his record with Coach Cut and without Coach Cut. Fulmer was a good recruiter. I'll give him that.
 
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#219
#219
vol_in_ga said:
I value his coaching tenure over his ad tenure (but he gets too bad a rep here). He was a player and coach first. A coach that won a national championship and multiple sec titles. He should have had 2 heisman winners, not his fault he didn’t. His only knock is that he didn’t win more national titles and could have. 95, 96, 97, and 01 all had championship potential. Nebraska is the only football program that can say their 90s were as good as ours. I myself was but a child then, and I feel bad for any Vol fan who was born late enough to not be able to witness any of our 90s success. We were dominant.

He was only made an ad when we had no idea what else to do. He had never been one before. We were a mess. It was a setup for failure. He knew a bit of what worked and what didn’t. He saw both as a coach here. Ultimately, he gave Pruitt total control and support/resources. That is needed to reach the apex at collegiate level. See saban, Meyer, smart, etc. Pruitt just wasn’t ready for it and it exposed us. Let’s not forget that he kept Barnes from leaving for ucla. So he went 1-1 on hiring.

We owe him immensely for his role as both coach and ad.

EDIT: I have been appropriately corrected and lashed for my injustice of remembering incorrectly who hired Tony Vitello, who was in fact not hired by Phil and thus the ad who will not be named who also held the position in 2017.
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Saying that Fulmer kept Barnes from going to UCLA is laughable. Had it not been for Randy Boyd stepping in to rescue the situation Fulmer was willing to let Barnes walk.

Fulmer taking over the AD as a savior is even more laughable. Who was leaking information to the media on the coaching search to undermine the existing AD?

Fulmer gave Pruitt total control of the football program to the extent he had to be sanctioned by the NCAA for acting as a coach and was told to back off.
 
#221
#221
onevol74 said:
Not much. Urban Meyer, Saban, and Riecht were already beating his brains out.
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Meyer didn’t get to Florida till 04. Saban was like 07. Fulmer had some pretty nice runs before that but always was stopped by Spurrier. I don’t think he was an elite coach by any means but Saban and Meyer are probably both in the top five coaches in the past 30-40 years if not the two best in that period.
 
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#222
#222
onevol74 said:
Saying that Fulmer kept Barnes from going to UCLA is laughable. Had it not been for Randy Boyd stepping in to rescue the situation Fulmer was willing to let Barnes walk.

Fulmer taking over the AD as a savior is even more laughable. Who was leaking information to the media on the coaching search to undermine the existing AD?

Fulmer gave Pruitt total control of the football program to the extent he had to be sanctioned by the NCAA for acting as a coach and was told to back off.
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You’re probably right about Randy Boyd. I don’t know how much of all the other stuff I believe. The whole situation was a mess and there was a lot that was said. I’m not gonna call Fulmer this evil sabotaging master anti-UT crusader that some make him out to be.

I think he loved UT and was a football coach who took the opportunity to try and right the university and his legacy. Not uncommon for a coach to try their hand at administration. He wasn’t great at it. It still doesn’t tarnish what he did on the field, imo.
 
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#225
#225
GAVol said:
Johnny didn’t lose the job for no reason. 1990 and 1991 were the exact kind of seasons that everybody got pissed at Fulmer for post 1998.
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It was before my time (I was 3), but I think Johnny thought he had enough job security to go around and publicly whine about his contract. It was a pretty big miscalculation.

When he showed back up midseason in 1992 and went 5-3, including losses to bad Arkansas and South Carolina teams (who also had just joined the SEC) and nailbiters against Memphis and Vandy, he was cooked.
 
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