Article:Majors/Fulmer Compared

#1
orange+white=heaven

orange+white=heaven

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#1
Those of you who love stats will drool over this one...

By Wesley Rucker
Staff Writer,Times Free Press

KNOXVILLE -- These are facts.
No opinion, no agenda.
Just facts.

The Tennessee football program has a lower winning percentage, lower Southeastern Conference winning percentage and three fewer league championships in coach Phillip Fulmer's past eight-plus seasons than it did the eight seasons before Johnny Majors stepped down in 1992.

Since leading Tennessee to the 1998 national championship, Fulmer is 71-32 -- a .689 winning percentage -- and the Vols have zero SEC titles.
From 1985 through 1992, Majors' last eight seasons, the Vols were 69-24-5 -- a .704 winning percentage -- and won three SEC titles.

The UT athletic department credits Fulmer with the Vols' three wins when he was interim coach to open the 1992 season, so Majors was officially 66-24-5 in his final eight seasons. Counting a tie as both a half-win and a half-loss, that gives him a .695 winning percentage, which is still higher than Fulmer's.

Subtracting UT's wins over Georgia and Florida while he was rehabilitating in 1992, Majors has a 39-16 SEC record (.701) in his last eight seasons.
Fulmer is 44-21 (.677) in the SEC during the past eight seasons, plus Saturday's loss at Florida.
Tennessee was 68-23-2 (.742) in the eight seasons before Majors. It was 59-21-2 (.741) with no SEC titles in seven seasons under Bill Battle from 1970-76.
Majors coached 16 seasons at Tennessee. In his first eight, the Vols were 51-39-3 (.565). In his final eight, they were 66-23-5 (.723).

Fulmer coached three games for Majors in 1992, and he's coached three games this season, and there were 14 full-time seasons in between. From 1992-99, he was 62-14 (.816). Since then, he is 63-29 (.685).
Fulmer entered this season with the highest winning percentage of any current Division I football coach with 10 or more seasons of experience, but this season's 1-2 start has put him second to South Carolina's Steve Spurrier.

If the Vols beat Arkansas State on Saturday and the Gamecocks lose at No. 2 LSU, Spurrier will still be percentage points ahead of Fulmer.
Tennessee hasn't won an SEC title since 1998. The Vols lost SEC championship games in 2001 and 2004, when a win would have landed them in the national championship game.

Starting with the 2004 title-game loss to Auburn, Tennessee has gone 16-13 overall and 8-10 in the SEC.
The Vols have played one SEC game this season, a 59-20 loss at Florida last Saturday. It was the program's worst loss since 1981's season-opening 44-0 setback at Georgia.

Fulmer has an 11-22 career record against Spurrier and active coaches from the only other programs to win SEC championship games: Georgia's Mark Richt, Florida's Urban Meyer, LSU's Les Miles, Alabama's Nick Saban and Auburn's Tommy Tuberville.

Fulmer doesn't have a winning record against any of those coaches. He is 4-9 against Spurrier, 2-4 against Richt, 0-3 against Meyer, 1-1 against Miles, 1-2 against Saban and 3-3 against Tuberville.
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#3
#3
It has taken a while, but unfortunately, things have gotten as bad as they seem.
 
#5
#5
The only knock against the "stats" in the article was that Majors SEC Championships were pre-division years. Two were won because Florida was on probation, and the other was a 3-way tie. While Majors winning percentage was okay in his final 8 seasons, I still don't think that is why he was pushed out. Racial comments and a general disregard for the wishes of the AD got him cut loose. Majors went years without a championship and 4 and 5 loss seasons without a word about letting him go. And when they did let him go, it was after losing to 2 of the worst teams in the SEC.

But, if the Vols could get rid of Johnny, they can get rid of anybody. Johnny Majors was probably the most popular player/icon at UT until Peyton Manning came along.
 
#6
#6
Lexvol said:
It has taken a while, but unfortunately, things have gotten as bad as they seem.
Click to expand...
Funny what a 59-20 azz whooping will do. Alot of ugly stats floating around. Fulmerite's need to chew on this one awhile. Alot of writer's have been ripping fulmer this week its almost like a avalanche. Funny how a bad beating can start to open some blind eyes.
 
#8
#8
it has always been a mystery to me why majors did not do better at UT, after his success at iowa st and pitt.

i was surprised when he got canned, having three nine win seasons in a row and winning 2 SECC in his last 4 years (even if they were SECC with an * , they rank higher in my book than an SEC eastern division title). i've heard all kinds of rumors about the firing, but figured he must have really PO'd the wrong people given the majors family legacy at UT.

what racial comments did johnny reportedly make?
 
#9
#9
allvol said:
The only knock against the "stats" in the article was that Majors SEC Championships were pre-division years. Two were won because Florida was on probation, and the other was a 3-way tie. While Majors winning percentage was okay in his final 8 seasons, I still don't think that is why he was pushed out. Racial comments and a general disregard for the wishes of the AD got him cut loose. Majors went years without a championship and 4 and 5 loss seasons without a word about letting him go. And when they did let him go, it was after losing to 2 of the worst teams in the SEC.

But, if the Vols could get rid of Johnny, they can get rid of anybody. Johnny Majors was probably the most popular player/icon at UT until Peyton Manning came along.
Click to expand...

Good on you, for pointing out the differences. And how did I know you'd be the one most likely to break it down?...:p

You really are the guru...


For me, the article reminded me that when I reached the place where I was ready for Johnny to go, my reasoning was that Tennessee was, on average, being ranked no higher than the 14-19 bracket. I believed we deserved a better performing program than that.

Well. If it was true for me then, I should admit it to myself now.

This has been a cathartic week for me.
 
#10
#10
orange+white=heaven said:
Good on you, for pointing out the differences. And how did I know you'd be the one most likely to break it down?...:p

You really are the guru...


For me, the article reminded me that when I reached the place where I was ready for Johnny to go, my reasoning was that Tennessee was, on average, being ranked no higher than the 14-19 bracket. I believed we deserved a better performing program than that.

Well. If it was true for me then, I should admit it to myself now.

This has been a cathartic week for me.
Click to expand...

Is Elton playing in the background?
...and butterflies are free to fly...
 
#12
#12
allvol said:
The only knock against the "stats" in the article was that Majors SEC Championships were pre-division years. Two were won because Florida was on probation, and the other was a 3-way tie. While Majors winning percentage was okay in his final 8 seasons, I still don't think that is why he was pushed out. Racial comments and a general disregard for the wishes of the AD got him cut loose. Majors went years without a championship and 4 and 5 loss seasons without a word about letting him go. And when they did let him go, it was after losing to 2 of the worst teams in the SEC.

But, if the Vols could get rid of Johnny, they can get rid of anybody. Johnny Majors was probably the most popular player/icon at UT until Peyton Manning came along.
Click to expand...
excellent post.
orange+white=heaven said:
This has been a cathartic week for me.
Click to expand...
i think it has been for a lot of us.:thumbsup:
orange+white=heaven said:
It's Elton. But the tune is Funeral For A Friend...
Click to expand...
:cray:
 
#13
#13
allvol said:
The only knock against the "stats" in the article was that Majors SEC Championships were pre-division years. Two were won because Florida was on probation, and the other was a 3-way tie. While Majors winning percentage was okay in his final 8 seasons, I still don't think that is why he was pushed out. Racial comments and a general disregard for the wishes of the AD got him cut loose. Majors went years without a championship and 4 and 5 loss seasons without a word about letting him go. And when they did let him go, it was after losing to 2 of the worst teams in the SEC.

But, if the Vols could get rid of Johnny, they can get rid of anybody. Johnny Majors was probably the most popular player/icon at UT until Peyton Manning came along.
Click to expand...


Excellent points, allvol.
 
#14
#14
TCHFCATUTK still has supporters even with the most accurate stats in this article. That's a clear sign that we have accepted being a mediocre football program.
 
#15
#15
Majors was on the Vol call in show last night.A lot of fun re-living some of the history he had here.
 
#16
#16
tm3 said:
it has always been a mystery to me why majors did not do better at UT, after his success at iowa st and pitt.

i was surprised when he got canned, having three nine win seasons in a row and winning 2 SECC in his last 4 years (even if they were SECC with an * , they rank higher in my book than an SEC eastern division title). i've heard all kinds of rumors about the firing, but figured he must have really PO'd the wrong people given the majors family legacy at UT.

what racial comments did johnny reportedly make?
Click to expand...

Here's a good article that may explain what happened to Majors.

WVLT - Sports Overtime Columns
 
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