Article:Fulmer Commentary

#1
orange+white=heaven

orange+white=heaven

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#1
TFP opinion columnist Mark Wiedmer on the Fulmer conundrum..

LINK:Wiedmer

To an SEC outsider, parting company with a coach who’s reached three SEC title games this decade, who won a national championship 10 years ago and who still has a .756 winning percentage would be preposterous.

But within the Volunteer State these days, Friends of Phil are as hard to spot as a prosperous stock. Both non-SEC home games have officially drawn fewer than 100,000 fans and unofficially held more than 10,000 empty seats each contest.

Slowly but surely, the comparisons with his predecessor Johnny Majors are beginning to come forward.

As one media friend told me Tuesday, “They fired Majors when he was 20-7-1 in his final 28 SEC games. Fulmer is 14-14 in his last 28 league games. How can he not be in trouble?”
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“We still believe,” he said, “that we can compete for a championship.”

You can laugh if you want. Especially when league road games remain at South Carolina and Vanderbilt after this weekend. But Fulmer isn’t laughing. Fulmer’s working.

“Our (problems) have been more a physical breakdown,” the coach said. “Thank goodness it’s fixable. We haven’t found (the fix) yet, but this would be a great week to start. It’s a very huge game for us.”
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#2
#2
i understand they have to keep the attitude the same, as far as competing for c'ships etc....but i still think this goes back to the mentality that this program, right now, is something that it's not. and what it's not is a c'ship caliber program.

when you keep hearing it, seeing it, reading it........and the end result doesn't change, at some point, good, bad or indifferent, it just sounds like denial.

it'll be interesting to see what happens this weekend. can we pull off another perceived miracle and job saver for Fulmer against the dawgs? it's the only game the last two years that we've won of any note. we could always fall back on "yeah, but we beat Georgia". wonder what happens if you take that away?
 
#3
#3
A better week to start would've been 10 minutes after the UCLA game, signed Dan4vols
 
#5
#5
The man is not going to go down without a fight. Unfortunately he doesn't realize he bringing a knife to a gun fight.
 
#8
#8
Fulmer said:
“Our (problems) have been more a physical breakdown,” the coach said. “Thank goodness it’s fixable. We haven’t found (the fix) yet, but this would be a great week to start. It’s a very huge game for ME.”
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Fixed his quote.
 
#9
#9
“We still believe,” he said, “that we can compete for a championship.”

Not even capable of being TN state champs IMO.
 
#10
#10
The 14-14 record is very telling and I believe even the average fan is now starting to look at the stats that paint a not so pretty picture.
 
#11
#11
I'm sure Fulmer would tell me I know nothing about football but in my mind there is absolutely no way in hell this team could compete for national titles in the near future.

Anyone that thinks we can needs to have a mental health evaluation!
 
#12
#12
dan4vols said:
You have to have 1 live game as a measurement of where you are as a team, I guess.
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That's consistent with my observations of how things work. The coaches really don't try to figure out where the team is until the season starts. That's how we fans know as much about the player's talent levels as they do.

Wonder if they could try to simulate the 'live game' experience? They could call it the 'spring game' or maybe just 'practice.'

In any case, it takes way too long to get the the 'good time to start' point when we play the Gators the 3rd game of the season. We need to start earlier.
 
#13
#13
KB5252 said:
I'm sure Fulmer would tell me I know nothing about football but in my mind there is absolutely no way in hell this team could compete for national titles in the near future.

Anyone that thinks we can needs to have a mental health evaluation!
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Well at least he's still a recruiting genius....:ermm:
 
#14
#14
14-14...Wow is all I can say...Speaks for itself kind of like dan4vols' avatar...Unreal!:good!:
 
#15
#15
G0V0LS33 said:
14-14...Wow is all I can say...Speaks for itself kind of like dan4vols' avatar...Unreal!:good!:
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There's more evidence against CPF than meets the eye. You're at the right place to find it.

I didn't realize how well Majors was doing in comparison.
 
#16
#16
If I were king, Fulmer would have to win out and hope for 2 more UF losses to save his job... and when I say win out I mean the SEC championship as well. IOW's, there's a 90%+ probability that I would have a quiet meeting attended by all the major stakeholders and Fulmer and ask him to fall on his sword for the good of the program.
 
#17
#17
sjt18 said:
... Fulmer and ask him to fall on his sword for the good of the program.
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Ironically, the main appeal is to Fulmer's willingness to put the program's needs above his own. CPF has to see those needs as divergent. Logically, he has to see that the program is better served without him.

At this point, this needs to happen... somehow.
 
#18
#18
He can impress the hell outta me if he resigned waiving the buyout 6 million for the love of the unversity. I'd call that credibility.
 
#19
#19
dan4vols said:
He can impress the hell outta me if he resigned waiving the buyout 6 million for the love of the unversity. I'd call that credibility.
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CPF recently donated $1M to the university. If he cooperated and worked in the interest of the program, I wouldn't press him too hard on the $$.
 
#21
#21
dan4vols said:
You gotta admit it'd be impressive.
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I agree. But I'd leave that for CPF's use.

$6M adds up quickly in lost sales (tickets, concessions, etc.) when comparing projections assoicated with estimating the difference between a friendly and a hostile CPF exit. Moreover, Fulmer is likely to stay in Knoxville--and possibly at UT in some capacity.

The Majors' scenario should not be repeated. UT doesn't need to make another succesful, former HFC angry for the rest of his life. Both Majors and Fulmer have contributed too much for such relationships to exist.
 
#22
#22
utmba93 said:
CPF recently donated $1M to the university. If he cooperated and worked in the interest of the program, I wouldn't press him too hard on the $$.
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I'm starting to think the $1 Mill donation was a publicity stunt to show the fans his loyalty to UT because he was falling out of favor with the fans. He turned around and got rewarded a new fat contract so he's getting his money back and then some. JMO
 
#23
#23
JMBIGORANGE said:
I'm starting to think the $1 Mill donation was a publicity stunt to show the fans his loyalty to UT because he was falling out of favor with the fans. He turned around and got rewarded a new fat contract so he's getting his money back and then some. JMO
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Bingo!...Conventional CPF supporters would say ridiculous or some other defensive attempt at guising the tainted Vols hero. Like I said if...if...if CPF offers to resign for enough cash to pay off a Uhaul van to haul his office effects to a knoxville storage unit I'll holler he's got cred.
 
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