Fulmer made great comment at halftime

#52
#52
With Fulmer as AD we might actually climb out of this hole. We haven’t had leadership in 15 years that understood the importance of investing in quality hires. It will take some time though. Even Fulmer said it would take 2 more classes to get back to being talented enough again.
I viewed the Fulmer hire in the same way I did the Barnes hire. Worst case both would bring much needed stability to this university and their programs. Best case, they would surpass the stability level and get us back to the top, and imo both men have done just that and have the basketball program and the AD as a whole headed in the right direction.
GBO!!
 
#53
#53
I think people underestimate how much of a problem Cheek was (moreso than DiPietro). The guy talked like he wanted to dismantle Tennessee athletics on a daily basis. He was the type of guy who thought sports had little place in an academic setting and only opened the university up to problems. His retirement was a godsend.
 
#54
#54
Regarding PF, notice how we're no longer paying good money to "search" firms to find coaching candidates to interview? IMO when it comes to the coaching profession, they are a complete waste of time and money. If the AD doesn't have a few curriculum vitaes in his/her desk and/or can make a few phone calls to fill coaching vacancies with solid winning people, then you don't have a very good AD. We do, PF is doing a very good job IMO.
 
#55
#55
That's just it, firing coaches is a lot like playing black jack and deciding whether to stay or hit. Fulmer was a good coach, good enough that when he had the right players he could win it all, was he the best coach in the history of college football? No. Was he the best coach in the game at the time he was fired? No, but his track record was such that he didn't look up at many. Fulmer was an 18 not a 21, but we chose to hit and busted. The odds were very good that was what was going to happen. It was unlikely that we would get a better coach, in fact, we got several much worse ones.

That's the perfect way to put that.
 
#57
#57
I’ll say to start, Fulmer is a VFL and welcome in my home to share a meal anytime.

That said, when we fired him it was time. He was complacent, stubborn, and had come to resent and lash out at any suggestion that he change. He had started to throw his players under the bus (remember the constant “failed to develop” excuse for recruiting busts?), and aside from hiring Cut back to try and get the band back together, his hiring record was abysmal and he retained incompetent coaches far too long (hello Randy Sanders)

I firmly believe the experience humbled him, and I was psyched when we hired him after a few months once I saw the change. He is much more like the 90s Fulmer these days than the 2000s Fulmer and I am excited to see where he takes us.
 
#58
#58
Hell yes he is right!! He said since 2003 we have not had an administration that was interested in any advancement of our athletic department. I did not know the year but 10000% agree. He told it like it was and is and I don't know which of the 3 most recent coaching adjustments will be his legacy but I hope all three are. Was not sold on Phil at the start but he has rubbed off on me some. FB as he said is the cash cow but he wants all of the programs to be top notch!!!!!!!
 
#59
#59
Do none of you guys remember he had two losing seasons in his last four years?!?!?!?!? That had nothing to do with administration! Nothing to do with the school president nor the Athletic Director!

Fulmer is just using that to discredit his failures as a coach at the end. Those in administration were not interfering with his coaching. They were not recruiting. They were not decreasing Fulmers budget for things like recruiting.

Hello
 
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#60
#60
LOL at ones getting their panties in bunch over a harmless message board comment calling other people childish...
 
#61
#61
Does anyone ridicule Saban’s record because Tennessee, Florida, LSU, aTm, etc all had bad coaches? Or even Bear Bryant’s for that matter?
Didn't ridicule Fulmer. If you want to see what I was talking about, simply go to Wikipedia for the answers.
 
#64
#64
It'll take a bit but Coach Fulmer will be the driving force in taking the Big Orange back to the dance regardless of which sport we're speaking of !
 
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#65
#65
Said Tennessee has “long invested in buildings, but now we’re investing in our people.”

That’s the secret to winning. Few schools match Tennessee in total AD facilities but they’ve made some horrible “people” decisions. Hopefully those are in the past.

Said the guy with the 6 million dollar golden parachute. Dooley and Jones would disagree. He is right of course but the problem was with the contracts they were given. Take a guy making less than a million and give him a 4 million dollar buyout clause???
 
#66
#66
Amen! Amen! Randy Boyd quickly jumped in and obtained financial support from donors to keep Barnes here. He is a good business man and a UT graduate. Boyd would have made a better Governor than the Auburn jerk Lee. Get this when the SEC Mens Basketball tournament was held in Nashville, Governor Lee invited the whole Auburn group to the Governors mansion and totally ignored Barnes and the whole UT basketball team. We need to replace Lee when his term is ended and elect Boyd.
Lee is head and shoulders a better person than Boyd ever will be, just because Boyd attended UT doesn't make him a better candidate for governor. Boyd was a Haslam supporter and vice versa, that's why he is where he is now, no thanks.
 
#68
#68
The numbers don't lie, we are 62-63 since we fahr'd Fulmer as HC. We were 186-61 in the 20 seasons prior. Even if you look only at the bad Fulmer years, 2002-2008, we were still 23rd in wins for that 7 year period with 2 SEC east titles. Since then we are 74th, firing Fulmer was a horrendous, horrendous decision. I can't believe people still defend it.

There are a few who have a personal vendetta against him and there is no sense in wasting time trying to convince them otherwise. It was a dumb move letting him go.
 
#71
#71
Amen! Amen! Randy Boyd quickly jumped in and obtained financial support from donors to keep Barnes here. He is a good business man and a UT graduate. Boyd would have made a better Governor than the Auburn jerk Lee. Get this when the SEC Mens Basketball tournament was held in Nashville, Governor Lee invited the whole Auburn group to the Governors mansion and totally ignored Barnes and the whole UT basketball team. We need to replace Lee when his term is ended and elect Boyd.

If true, somewhat classless by Lee depending on the circumstances.
 
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#72
#72
What do you mean “no ish Phil”? If you’ve got one eye and a grain of salt and watched UT athletics for 10 minutes over the last 10 years, especially the football program, you know that absolutely no one affiliated with Tennessee, not one person, showed any sign of recognition of this point.

Thank God for Phil Fulmer and his wisdom in knowing how important what he said is and then going about changing the culture and mindset around it. He understands how important it is and how everyone in the power structure has to be aligned for this to work...from the UT system President to the chancellor to the Board to the AD to the head coaches. Thank God he’s there or we’d have no chance of seeing UT athletics get back to being competitive again.
And yet people we’re bashing him when he got the full time AD job. He’s knows what the AD department needs to look like from top to bottom. Football is what drives this school. Look at all the other succcess our sports our having. Men’s BB is looking like they are here to stay, Women’s basketball finally made the right decision to move on from Holly, baseball could be making the big tourney this year and softball is once again in the mix for a national title. I trust Fulmer in any decision he makes.
 
#73
#73
I strongly suspect that you would have considered any women's Hoops hire other than Geno auriemma to be underwhelming.

A coach with a record barely above .500 is not a home run. If she hadn't played for Pat, everyone would be pissed.
 

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