I respect Fulmer a little more after each game we lose

[Fullfillmer]

We make a big deal about winning games nowadays he use to win blindfolded. I’m not sure we will ever get back within being 75% of the win production he produced . Recruiting is the key. Must needs. Vol for life , hate losing especially to Georgia.

I dislike Fulmer a little more after each game we lose. I had to see him at the basketball game today, so I guess I dislike him a little more after each game we win as well. Isn't he the guy that brought in Jeremy Pruitt and gave himself a big raise in the middle of the night? Asking for a friend.

The world was different when Fulmer was coaching - he was a good recruiter but grew tired of it. I will give you that he does look good when measured up against Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt - but then again everyone looks good compared to those clowns.

 

[Dudleys87]

I’m not sorry for the following and maybe I’m the only one with this opinion:

Fulmer lost all credibility and respect when he tried to railroad the program and the university.

 

[Buddr]

I appreciate Fulmers record also, buuuuuuuuut to compare the teams and Fulmer had to the one Heuple has is well you know. Just give Heuple some time. Of Course the biggest threat Fulmer had in the east coaching wise was Spurrier.

 

[ThreatLevelOrange]

Fulmer had 2 OCs and 2 DCs from 1992-2007. And never went outside “the family” to hire either. He was out of his depth when that became necessary. It’s a different time.

 

[chuck0303]

We make a big deal about winning games nowadays he use to win blindfolded. I’m not sure we will ever get back within being 75% of the win production he produced . Recruiting is the key. Must needs. Vol for life , hate losing especially to Georgia.

You're delusional about Fulmer. You did notice he ran the program into the ground didn't you? Anyone with a heartbeat knows that recruiting is the key & developing the players that you get, along with a good coach. Want to see a program imploding, look no further than Florida; used to get lots of high calibur recruits but as an analyst pointed out yesterday, they have zero 5 star recruits for 2022 yet. Couple that with a coach that appears complacent & downward spiral they go.

 

[alavolfan]

Fulmer is a reason why we’re in this mess right now.

Pruitt should have never been hired to begin with.

To make things worse, Fulmer wanted to keep Pruitt for another year.

Dear God… why?

 

[chuck0303]

I do wonder how different our situation would be if we had given Fulmer one more season. Then we don’t have the Kiffin & Dooley debacle, and our program was probably more stable & successful through the 2010s, whether with Fulmer or a better hypothetical hire than what we made.

The Triple Entente of firing Fulmer, Kiffin leaving, and hiring Dooley screwed the program for more than a decade.

Hmmmm, if Fulmer hadn't run the program into the ground then we wouldn't have to speculate, now would we??????????

 

[Boston Vol]

Three things ended Fulmer. LSU hired Saban, Georgia hired Richt and Cutcliffe left. Spurrier left and rather than grabbing the bull by the horns, Richt slipped right past him and became the best team in the East until Urban arrived. We used to do well in Louisiana recruiting because LSU was down for a decade. Saban closed that door. Alabama got off probation finally and hired Saban. We'd twiddled our thumbs giving Phil chance after chance to right things. He did not. The biggest mistake UT made was keeping him after 2005. Though firing him in 2002 wouldn't have been unreasonable. Auburn, Alabama etc would have canned him in 2002 after taking top 3 talent and going 8-5 with it.

I’d also add John Stucky getting sick and being forced to resign. The program was never the same after Johnny Long took as the S&C coach.

 

[Vol865]

Fulmer had a losing record the year he was let go. He was no better than Butch Jones from 2002-2008

He won the East twice during that period, beat UF and Bama, and we were a hell of a lot better the majority of the time. Y'all gotta stop with the Fulmer hate. Not a good look to hate a guy who is our most successful coach in the last 70 years.

 

[GVol1966]

We make a big deal about winning games nowadays he use to win blindfolded. I’m not sure we will ever get back within being 75% of the win production he produced . Recruiting is the key. Must needs. Vol for life , hate losing especially to Georgia.

If he would of just rode of into the sunset I would regard him higher.
He was a good coach for a while but nothing special.

 

[VolsSince78]

And Fulmer somehow managed to win virtually nothing with Peyton.

Fulmer with Peyton was 39-6 including 26-4 in the SEC and an SEC Championship. That’s much better than winning “virtually nothing”. I was stoked the night Fulmer/Peyton beat Auburn for SEC, the day they beat Ohio State in a bowl, and following their three wins in a row over both Bama and UGA. Hope you were too. Good times.

 

[JVol76V2]

I’m not sorry for the following and maybe I’m the only one with this opinion:

Fulmer lost all credibility and respect when he tried to railroad the program and the university.

No, you're not the only one with that opinion. Actually it's not even an opinion it's a fact. I'm just glad I got the privilege of seeing him fired twice.

 

[terrypedigo]

Fulmer is a reason why we’re in this mess right now.

Pruitt should have never been hired to begin with.

To make things worse, Fulmer wanted to keep Pruitt for another year.

I remember when VoL nation was worried about losing Pruitt to Bama, when saint nick hangs it up.

 

[VolBallGuy]

And won what?

See the numbers that come before the dashes.

 

[TartanTurff]

I lose all respect for Fulmer, every time I see him at a UT event, always working the donors in the expensive seats, plotting, planning and leaching off the donors and the university to this day, why White Danny and Baseball Randy allow him into athletic events on campus is a mystery to me,

He was at Thompson Boling today, watching a sport he never paid any attention to and nearly ran off a Naismith awarded coach that fell into our lap after the Donnie Tyndall fiasco under Handsome Dave. Fulmer had his all access badge proudly around his neck, in the expensive white seats, but at the opposite end of the floor from the team and the athletic department seats he always felt entitled to, they need to run this bum off from everything Tennessee, his lingering presence is a cancer on the go forward requirements of our programs, he was shown the door with a cool million, now it is time to slam it, lock him out and throw away the key. Sheesh

 

[onevol74]

Would you rather have an SECCG appearance every 3 years, or be looking at 20 years without one? That's the state of the program.

There was no guarantee that we would be in the SECCG with Fulmer. That is only an assumption.

 

[77' Vol]

Fulmer was an awful coach. David Cutcliffe was the brains behind the Wins. Hell, he even coached Duke into being respectable.

 

[usagary]

Pruitt was definitely the worst hire since Kiffin.

I think the worst decision since Kiffin was in 2010 and it was two pronged.

1- Hamilton not letting Kippy Brown or someone be the interim for one year and basically have a 12 month coaching search

2- Once Hamilton was dead set on going with a rushed search that resulted in Dooley, he should have NEVER balked at Cutcliffe’s request to hire his own assistants and not be forced to absorb the Kiffin leftover coaches.


Cutcliffe would have walked into Tyler Bray and a somewhat promising offensive core.

The worst coach we hired was far and away Pruitt. But the worst decision of UT’s athletic department was in January 2010

This 100%!

 

[onevol74]

He won the East twice during that period, beat UF and Bama, and we were a hell of a lot better the majority of the time. Y'all gotta stop with the Fulmer hate. Not a good look to hate a guy who is our most successful coach in the last 70 years.

Only successful because Johnny set him up.

 

[Through_The_T]

Funny, I think the exact opposite as OP. Fulmer’s later tenure and his disastrous stint in the athletic department have soured me on nearly everything he accomplished here…

 

[NEO]

We make a big deal about winning games nowadays he use to win blindfolded. I’m not sure we will ever get back within being 75% of the win production he produced . Recruiting is the key. Must needs. Vol for life , hate losing especially to Georgia.

CPF was nothing without Cut.

He was crap the minute Cut left and he was only good when he came back and when Cut left again he was crap again and got fired.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

Too bad Fulmer didn't hire Dave Clawson after the 2005 season. Might could have ended up with Saban as HC the following year.

 

[CAVPUT]

Fulmer gets kudos for the natty, but after that he's been a pimple on the vol nation's a$$. He needs to step away and let this university breathe. I've had all of him that I can stomach.

 

[Vol865]

Only successful because Johnny set him up.

Or maybe Johnny couldn't get over the hump. With all due respect.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Other than Florida, the SEC was also at its weakest during his heyday. The incredible Hulco has done more harm than good to the program at this point.

Surely you jest. He hired the guy that cheated and had no character, but he was not involved in the cheating and was involved in the decision to excise him and any staff member they could find involved. He could not put the bullets back in Pruitt's gun and he knew he had to go to minimize the programs exposure with NCAA and made the exit easy for his bosses as they explained in the presser. The NCAA will not take away any of his 152 victories nor the NC and doubt he is booted from the HOF for the bad hire. Now if he was overseeing the bad acts or even tried to cover them up then it would be different. I am betting when the smoke clears we will find one of his hires blew the whistle.