Did Fulmer overvalue himself?

Did Fulmer overvalue himself?

  • Yes

  • No

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#51
#51
GBO2011 said:
A drunk rhesus monkey could have won a natty with that talent. That’s what my post earlier was about. He was a great recruiter, but just a good coach, that will get you a championship but it won’t put you in the all time greats category
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Sure they could .... why not count all the titles UT has won since Fulmer left....there's a reason that Fulmer won more games in UT history except Gen Neyland.
( btw.. if you are correct ,why doesn't UT just hire a rhesus monkey?)
 
#52
#52
roadvol said:
Sure they could .... why not count all the titles UT has won since Fulmer left....there's a reason that Fulmer won more games in UT history except Gen Neyland.
( btw.. if you are correct ,why doesn't UT just hire a rhesus monkey?)
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I recall the experts and "wannebe coaches"demanding Fulmer be fired back then .They were declaring any mediocre coach could win at UT with our history and facilities. That with any average coach we should win a SEC title at least every 3-4 years and a NC at least 1-2 times every 8-10 years.
How has that worked out?
 
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#53
#53
roadvol said:
I recall the experts and "wannebe coaches"demanding Fulmer be fired back then .They were declaring any mediocre coach could win at UT with our history and facilities. That with any average coach we should win a SEC title at least every 3-4 years and a NC at least 1-2 times every 8-10 years.
How has that worked out?
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I would use the word entitled instead of over valued. Once he won natty in 1998 I feel program started trending down after 2005 with Vandy loss and as was stated Meyer and Saban came into the league and things changed. I feel he felt he should be allowed to coach until he made the decision to step down. An ugly exit for sure in 2008.
 
#54
#54
strkr said:
I would use the word entitled instead of over valued. Once he won natty in 1998 I feel program started trending down after 2005 with Vandy loss and as was stated Meyer and Saban came into the league and things changed. I feel he felt he should be allowed to coach until he made the decision to step down. An ugly exit for sure in 2008.
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Agree, it was time for him to step down for the reasons you state. Seemed he thought once he had reached the top of the mountain could cruise from then on. But he deserved a better outcome. AD should have just privately told him to resign for whatever reason he wanted and let him save face. And if he was too stubborn to do that then firing was his only other option.
 
#55
#55
It’s amazing to me how many people can crawl into Fulmer’s skin and tell you his innermost thoughts and biases. A whole lot of conclusions are being drawn about the guy without first hand evidence. That s says more about the folks making these sort of claims for good or bad than it does about Fulmer imo.
 
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#56
#56
In 2008 Tennessee made the worst decision they have ever made!! 152-52 ! What is our record since ?? I’ll HANG UP AND LISTEN! Atlanta lately ? NO! 2007 was the last trip ! FULMER is 2nd in winning % , behind only the Great Robert Neyland
 
#57
#57
roadvol said:
I recall the experts and "wannebe coaches"demanding Fulmer be fired back then .They were declaring any mediocre coach could win at UT with our history and facilities. That with any average coach we should win a SEC title at least every 3-4 years and a NC at least 1-2 times every 8-10 years.
How has that worked out?
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To be fair, Kiffen had a winning record with less talent and even lost a bowl game. That one and done and the timing of him leaving is what did the program in.
 
#58
#58
Here is my conclusion. Philip Fulmer is the Aaron Rodgers of CFB coaches. He won a championship, is widely respected around the college football landscape, but, there is much more he could have accomplished, and there was that one team he just couldn’t beat.
 
#59
#59
#1fulmerite said:
To be fair, Kiffen had a winning record with less talent and even lost a bowl game. That one and done and the timing of him leaving is what did the program in.
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The one year that Kiffin was coach, he was favored in 8 games ( with talent inherited from Fulmer that he didnt run off) and had a record of 7-6. So he under performed
 
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#60
#60
A lot of thrse
Remy said:
It’s amazing to me how many people can crawl into Fulmer’s skin and tell you his innermost thoughts and biases. A whole lot of conclusions are being drawn about the guy without first hand evidence. That s says more about the folks making these sort of claims for good or bad than it does about Fulmer imo.
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Guessing a lot of these conclusions are being made by people who were in diapers when Fulmer was coaching
 
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#61
#61
roadvol said:
A lot of thrse

Guessing a lot of these conclusions are bring made by people who were in diapers when Fulmer was coaching
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I wasn’t even alive when Fulmer was coaching but from the stuff I heard my dad say about Fulmer (He played for Fulmer from ‘92-‘95) he was very much full of himself a bit
 
#62
#62
#1fulmerite said:
Does it seem to anyone Fulmer still thinks people owe him something? I know he was paid tens of millions but, does he still think he is owed something?
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Idk. I think he thought his firing was handled wrong. He’s right about that. Everything Hamilton did regarding football was close to abysmal
 
#63
#63
roadvol said:
The one year that Kiffin was coach, he was favored in 8 games ( with talent inherited from Fulmer that he didnt run off) and had a record of 7-6. So he under performed
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I think this is great discussion or even debate. In any event, he did better than Fulmer and, could be added, with Fulmer’s own players. However, were two linemen starters that year actually walkons?
 
#64
#64
Remy said:
It’s amazing to me how many people can crawl into Fulmer’s skin and tell you his innermost thoughts and biases. A whole lot of conclusions are being drawn about the guy without first hand evidence. That s says more about the folks making these sort of claims for good or bad than it does about Fulmer imo.
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His wife told him to retire right after the NC game and retire on top. He couldn't do it.
 
#65
#65
OrangeBeachVol said:
His wife told him to retire right after the NC game and retire on top. He couldn't do it.
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In his defense I wouldn’t either. What made all time greats like General Neyland, Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, Tom Osborne, who they were was that they never wanted to stop at one, they wanted their legacy to be the greatest coach in history. Can’t blame Fulmer for wanting more
 
#66
#66
#1fulmerite said:
There has been much discussion about Fulmer on these boards as late as this week and, amongst Vol fans in general. As it seems, most on here state they believed it was time for him to go before his first firing. To me, he never seemed to accept it. It was as if he thought he was Tennessee football and above everyone and was owed more than just the millions he was paid. Then, when he came back as AD, there was a glow surrounding him as though he was proving he was Tennessee football and him being named AD was proof he was wronged. Before his first firing, it also seemed he was oblivious to the negative environment that the fan based had against him; he was in disbelief about his first firing. Was he thinking about Majors and the legions of the miserables and thus did not see the total sentiment? I think his negotiated package the second time included box seats among other perks. He never seemed to settle away from the Tennessee spotlight. I just can’t recall another coach who never accepted their firing like he did.
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Seems like the only one bringing up that fat idiot is you. Why do you like bringing up Fulmer threads?
 
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#68
#68
BigOrangeTrain said:
Seems like the only one bringing up that fat idiot is you. Why do you like bringing up Fulmer threads?
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GBO2011 said:
Look at his profile, he worships the ground Fulmer walks on
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Because it’s the offseason and other than spring practice, there is literally nothing else going on. I’m not a basketball, baseball, soccer or any other sports fan.

If you don’t like it, why click on it much less comment?
 
#69
#69
roadvol said:
The one year that Kiffin was coach, he was favored in 8 games ( with talent inherited from Fulmer that he didnt run off) and had a record of 7-6. So he under performed
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Kiffin was left so much talent he had to start two walk on twins on the OL. He over performed on The Hill by a lot!!! That doesn’t mean or discount how he did us dirty, but the guy did a great job that one season based on what he had to work with imo.
 
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#70
#70
natemantooth said:
Yes, he did overvalue himself. He hired Clawson from Richmond, which was a lower-tier school, thinking he'd take him under his wing. Fulmer's ego couldn't handle hiring an appropriate, established offensive coordinator.

Flash forward to Fulmer's AD tenure. We had Mike Leach lined up as HC, but again, Fulmer couldn't stand the thought of an air-raid legend calling the shots. Yet again, Fulmer's hubris led him to hire someone unqualified. He thought he could mold Pruitt into Fulmer 2.0 rather than hiring the most qualified candidate.

Fulmer's strength was recruiting, and his loyalty to the university. In Fulmer's view, he was a great offensive mind. In reality, the great offensive minds were coaches like Urban Meyer, Bobby Petrino, Steve Spurrier, and David Cutcliffe. Had he put his ego aside in hiring an elite offensive coordinator, he could have survived another 5 to 10 years.

He also kept gaining weight throughout his tenure. Yes, there are plenty of fat coaches, but it seemed the more weight Fulmer put on, the slower his football mind worked.

I do appreciate the natty and SEC championships he gave us. Nowadays, I want him as far from the program as possible.
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He’s greedy sleazebag
 
#72
#72
Fulmer was a great coach at Tennessee. Won our only modern-era national title in football, trails only Neyland in all-time wins, and if you don't count John Barnhill (who only coached 39 games) he's also second in all-time winning percentage.

There are a few reasons why I think his name isn't thrown out there quickly when you're discussing who the great coaches over the last 30 years are so are.

1 - He was HC for 16 full seasons. Virtually all of the high-level success was in the first 8. Tennessee was a good, but not great, program overall after that, and had several seasons where the team pretty badly underachieved.
2 - He had his greatest success when the SEC was in a down period during much of the 1990s, with UF being the only other consistent program, and he had pretty limited success against UF. He had a reputation as a master recruiter; however, once Richt/Urban/Saban entered the conference in the 2000s, the quality of his classes steadily declined. I've heard fans of other programs say "Tennessee wasn't even the best team in their conference during their up period," and while it stings to hear that, it is 100% true.
3 - He relied a lot on assistants (Cut and Chavis) that he inherited from a prior staff. I get that he made the call to promote those guys to be his OC and DC respectively, but he was very fortunate to have already had them on staff with him after Majors was forced out. He also was fortunate that Chavis repeatedly turned down jobs from other programs and stayed for so long, he never adequately replaced Cut when he left (twice), and he had trouble replacing other assistant coaches/position coaches as time went on.

I think it has been pretty well confirmed (as much as something like this could be "confirmed") that he started coasting a bit after the title in 1998, and during his last few years he was just planning to hold on until he passed Neyland's win total, then retire.

When you throw in the fact that his tenure as AD here was an unmitigated disaster, and his repeated conniving to obtain that job that he was wholly unqualified for, I don't think it is unfair to say that he has a mixed legacy at Tennessee, even though he is the 2nd best football coach in school history.
 
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#75
#75
DarkVolder said:
He should’ve stepped aside after the 5-6 season in 2005. I believe we started ranked 3rd in the preseason polls that year and finished with our first losing season since 1988 but no he hung around and gave us another losing season in 2008.
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He followed that 5-6 season with a 9 and 10 win season. No problem with looking after the second losing season, REAL problem doing so without a guy with class and character lined up to fill the void. Somebody failed AD 101 class.

He felt no need to seek jobs outside of Knoxville. Have heard his wife reinforced that concept.
 
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