Fulmer’s legacy?

[#1fulmerite]

Now that he has been away from the program for a few years now, what would you rate his TOTAL legacy combining both his coaching era and his tenure as AD? I know most of you fellow posters will want to split these into two different judgements but, how do you view his overall legacy now that he has been away from the program?

 

[Hulavol]

Tennessee Legend -
Second greatest coach in history, and they should add his name to the stadium. Fulmer Field at Neyland Stadium.
You might not like things he did, or didn’t do- but that man is ALL VOL.

As for the Pruitt era- he did what he thought was best - trying to beat Saban at his own game. Didn’t work out.

And no one will convince me otherwise - if he were given more time, he would have had us back in the NC picture before too long.

Just my .02

 

[EconVol92]

He squandered quite a bit of talent. He often had as much or more talent throughout the mid 90’s to the mid 2000’s and lost the games that he shouldn’t have and rarely won those that he shouldn’t have.

I’ve said it before and that is coach Cut was the real force for the good years Fulmer had as coach and his time as AD was a failure by anyone’s standard.

To me he was a net negative and that is saying something for a coach who won a national title.

 

[Vol865]

Well without his team our last national championship would've been 57 years ago

 

[OrangeInKy]

This will be fun

 

[05_never_again]

I know since he won a title here you aren't allowed by some to say anything that is critical of him. However, you simply cannot ignore how his tenure as coach ended, and you definitely cannot ignore the unmitigated disaster that was his tenure as AD.

I voted neutral because there wasn't an option between neutral and good, but it is closer to neutral than good. A better answer is that "it's complicated." After all, he is the second best football coach in school history. If he never came back as AD, or if his tenure as AD was something other than a disaster, I would have voted good.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

I'd vote good because of the Natty but he was absolutely catastrophic in every sense of the word as AD (Hiring, extending, finances, compliance)...

The only reason we aren't on probation now for Pruitt is because the NCAA has been neutered...

 

[wmcovol]

Tennessee Legend -
Second greatest coach in history, and they should add his name to the stadium. Fulmer Field at Neyland Stadium.
You might not like things he did, or didn’t do- but that man is ALL VOL.

As for the Pruitt era- he did what he thought was best - trying to beat Saban at his own game. Didn’t work out.

And no one will convince me otherwise - if he were given more time, he would have had us back in the NC picture before too long.

Just my .02

Field already has a name. Maybe the donor suites. The Fulmer Level.

 

[#1fulmerite]

Tennessee Legend -
Second greatest coach in history, and they should add his name to the stadium. Fulmer Field at Neyland Stadium.
You might not like things he did, or didn’t do- but that man is ALL VOL.

As for the Pruitt era- he did what he thought was best - trying to beat Saban at his own game. Didn’t work out.

And no one will convince me otherwise - if he were given more time, he would have had us back in the NC picture before too long.

Just my .02

I’ve always thought and said he hired Pruitt because there was virtually no one else that would either take the job or, any better at that time. Did what he had to do.

 

[HalfullVol]

Fulmer was a great recruiter and even better schmooooooozer.

He needed better coordinators around him to make him look good.

Kinda like BBowden at Florida State.

Yet, just like BBowden, he is Legend Status.

Just my take.

 

[volfanhill]

Tennessee Legend -
Second greatest coach in history, and they should add his name to the stadium. Fulmer Field at Neyland Stadium.
You might not like things he did, or didn’t do- but that man is ALL VOL.

As for the Pruitt era- he did what he thought was best - trying to beat Saban at his own game. Didn’t work out.

And no one will convince me otherwise - if he were given more time, he would have had us back in the NC picture before too long.

Just my .02

Fulmer does not get to replace the name of the family that ponied up the money to build our field.

 

[BanditVol]

Well without his team our last national championship would've been 57 years ago

more like 72 if you are counting only AP

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Tennessee Legend -
Second greatest coach in history, and they should add his name to the stadium. Fulmer Field at Neyland Stadium.
You might not like things he did, or didn’t do- but that man is ALL VOL.

As for the Pruitt era- he did what he thought was best - trying to beat Saban at his own game. Didn’t work out.

And no one will convince me otherwise - if he were given more time, he would have had us back in the NC picture before too long.

Just my .02

Really good coach for a few years. It had been 7 years since he had a team in the national title picture when he was fired. No one is trying convince you, but no one of any significance offered him a job afterwards and yes, he made several public statements about wanting to coach again. He had no business being AD and should be as low profile as possible going forward.

 

[DaddyChad]

I view them separately.

As a coach he was great, although I would argue he should’ve been better. I think he was a great recruiter with two great coordinators when he stared. With the talent he had I think he should’ve won more.

As an AD, he wasn’t even mediocre imo but he had a lot stacked against him. What annoyed me the most was the extension he gave Pruitt which was moreso to solidify his position in the AD than for the program. Also him hiring and paying Steele to be interim coach also cost the program plenty and was a desperate attempt to retain power. Politically it’s hard to run an AD when a booster as powerful as Haslam is aligned against you.

 

[DaddyChad]

I’ve always thought and said he hired Pruitt because there was virtually no one else that would either take the job or, any better at that time. Did what he had to do.

He wanted Tucker. Anderson wanted Pruitt.

 

[lexkyvol]

1st bcs national champ ever!

GOOD

VolNationFamily........good things and bad things, Fulmer bleeds ORANGE and White! True VFL

 

[Special Ed]

I'll abstain.

 

[DaddyChad]

Field already has a name. Maybe the donor suites. The Fulmer Level.

Yeah. Idiotic to rename the field. I have no problem honoring the man for his contributions but you don’t just do away with those that have contributed to your program and its history.

 

[Vol737]

I will always appreciate the really good teams we had under Fulmer and the Natty he brought home. It was some really good football for a long time. Hated how his firing went down, but you could tell he was regressing with the loss of Cut. Sanders later became the scapegoat and while Clawson has been a fairly successful coach, his hire was just wrong person at the wrong time and probably wasn't the right fit. JMO. Thought Fulmer might be a stabilizing figure during the chaos as AD, but I was completely wrong. However, I wish the man well and he's still a VFL.

 

[bpalmer28]

Legend.

 

[Volfan1000]

Now that he has been away from the program for a few years now, what would you rate his TOTAL legacy combining both his coaching era and his tenure as AD? I know most of you fellow posters will want to split these into two different judgements but, how do you view his overall legacy now that he has been away from the program?

Fulmer out recruited everybody as a coach and has David Cutcliffe and Randy Sanders to thank for the 1998 natty.

He was a cluster **** as an athletic director in hiring Pruitt to run the football program into the ground.

His best hire was volleyball coach Eve Rackham Watt from North Carolina.

 

[superdave1984]

As a coach he brought home a national title and a handful of SEC titles. Could have and should have been more SEC titles, but Ol Ball Coach was a step ahead of him nearly every year. I think Phil should have been let go sooner than he was. I think if he had been canned after 05 we could have gotten maybe a Gary Patterson to come to UT and been a perennial top 5 team and gotten a couple more national titles. Instead the whole thing went sideways faster than kids could cash in their Pilot cards. There is no excuse for what happened to this program between Fulmer and Heupel. I can overlook one bad hire, but 4 in a row?

 

[chuck0303]

Fulmer out recruited everybody as a coach and has David Cutcliffe and Randy Sanders to thank for the 1998 natty.

He was a cluster **** as an athletic director in hiring Pruitt to run the football program into the ground.

His best hire was volleyball coach Eve Rackham Walt from North Carolina.

Although I don't like Fulmer, and can't stand Spurrier, but Spurrier was in Fulmer's head all the time & made him make bad decisions football-wise. He got be AD because he was politicking all the time for it with anyone who would listen & sucking up to the donors. The results speak for themselves.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

I view them separately.

As a coach he was great, although I would argue he should’ve been better. I think he was a great recruiter with two great coordinators when he stared. With the talent he had I think he should’ve won more.

As an AD, he wasn’t even mediocre imo but he had a lot stacked against him. What annoyed me the most was the extension he gave Pruitt which was moreso to solidify his position in the AD than for the program. Also him hiring and paying Steele to be interim coach also cost the program plenty and was a desperate attempt to retain power. Politically it’s hard to run an AD when a booster as powerful as Haslam is aligned against you.

Here are 7 things as an AD where he failed miserably (beyond hiring Pruitt). I'm not buying the excuses....he was Hamilton bad without the Top 5-7 revenue or a Pearl type hire win....


Culture of non compliance

Extended Holly

Hired a WBB who imploded at her prior P5 job (Kellie)

Neglected Barnes to point where it took an overmarket extension to keep him

Took Top 7-8 revenue athletic dept. and fell behind peers to around 20

Extended Pruitt

Kevin Steele hiring

 

[orangefloyd]

Tennessee Legend -
Second greatest coach in history, and they should add his name to the stadium. Fulmer Field at Neyland Stadium.
You might not like things he did, or didn’t do- but that man is ALL VOL.

As for the Pruitt era- he did what he thought was best - trying to beat Saban at his own game. Didn’t work out.

And no one will convince me otherwise - if he were given more time, he would have had us back in the NC picture before too long.

Just my .02

Blue font?