Fulmer.....not that great of recruiter??

#1
g8terh8ter_eric

g8terh8ter_eric

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#1
As many of your know, I have mentioned many times before where I believed that Fulmer was one of the greatest closer recruiters in college football. Now after looking over our classes and subsequent results of the following seasons, I have to retract my statement. I have been sitting here looking at our previous classes from 2002 up until this year and I can honestly say that either Fulmer was a poor judge or character or a poor coach. I have looked over multiple 5* talent that bit the dust or went up in smoke. I have seen the 2* and 3* talent that never saw the field. I have also seen some guys that came up and played well. The thing that eludes my perception or thinking is, where is the WOW factor in those classes?? When did we lose out "edge"?? Did we fall that far behind in times and lose touch with what recruits really wanted?? What is the answer??

You can point to many things as reasons or answers, but simple fact of the matter is Fulmer rode talent and great assistants that he didn't keep around too long to the top. I can honestly say this, Fulmer may have been a great recruiter at one point in time, but he can't hold a candle to the best in the business now. I apologize Phil, but I am glad you were let go.

We have a new energy now, and I think it will be something that will get us back on the scene. Do I expect NC's, not at this point. What I do expect is, getting solid players that can contribute from Day 1, instead of their junior year.
 
#2
#2
Fulmer relied on assistants quite a bit IMO (as far as coaching goes). I never followed his recruiting so I can't necessarily comment much on that, but it is entirely possible that he could bring in the talent but had to hope other people knew what to do with them.

IIRC, the offense recently has only been good when Cut has been here, as an example.
 
#3
#3
kotheb said:
Fulmer relied on assistants quite a bit IMO (as far as coaching goes). I never followed his recruiting so I can't necessarily comment much on that, but it is entirely possible that he could bring in the talent but had to hope other people knew what to do with them.

IIRC, the offense recently has only been good when Cut has been here, as an example.
Click to expand...

Cut was the discipline when he was here. That was shown to be a FACT this year.
 
#4
#4
Very true.

Though, it's been said that the mark of a good coach is to know his downfalls and surround himself with people who can make up for his weaknesses. It seems Fulmer fell off that bandwagon last year.

Kiffin, however, is setting the new standard in that department.
 
#5
#5
AMEN on what said! I hope CLK & company can help get the talent level and UT`s SWAGGER back!
g8terh8ter_eric said:
As many of your know, I have mentioned many times before where I believed that Fulmer was one of the greatest closer recruiters in college football. Now after looking over our classes and subsequent results of the following seasons, I have to retract my statement. I have been sitting here looking at our previous classes from 2002 up until this year and I can honestly say that either Fulmer was a poor judge or character or a poor coach. I have looked over multiple 5* talent that bit the dust or went up in smoke. I have seen the 2* and 3* talent that never saw the field. I have also seen some guys that came up and played well. The thing that eludes my perception or thinking is, where is the WOW factor in those classes?? When did we lose out "edge"?? Did we fall that far behind in times and lose touch with what recruits really wanted?? What is the answer??

You can point to many things as reasons or answers, but simple fact of the matter is Fulmer rode talent and great assistants that he didn't keep around too long to the top. I can honestly say this, Fulmer may have been a great recruiter at one point in time, but he can't hold a candle to the best in the business now. I apologize Phil, but I am glad you were let go.

We have a new energy now, and I think it will be something that will get us back on the scene. Do I expect NC's, not at this point. What I do expect is, getting solid players that can contribute from Day 1, instead of their junior year.
Click to expand...
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#6
#6
kotheb said:
Very true.

Though, it's been said that the mark of a good coach is to know his downfalls and surround himself with people who can make up for his weaknesses. It seems Fulmer fell off that bandwagon last year.

Kiffin, however, is setting the new standard in that department.
Click to expand...

Fulmer started with Garner, it was all downhill after that. Fulmer never wanted to surround himself with people, other than Chavis and Cut, that were considered better coaches than he was. In the end, the favor that Cut did Fulmer, saved Fulmer's job until Cut went elsewhere.
 
#7
#7
kotheb said:
Very true.

Though, it's been said that the mark of a good coach is to know his downfalls and surround himself with people who can make up for his weaknesses. It seems Fulmer fell off that bandwagon last year.

Kiffin, however, is setting the new standard in that department.
Click to expand...


I couldn't agree more with this statement. Last year, was just horrible, Fulmer just didn't do his homework to know that gimmick offenses don't work and that UT's roots is power football, not flash.
 
#8
#8
wkhardplayhard said:
I couldn't agree more with this statement. Last year, was just horrible, Fulmer just didn't do his homework to know that gimmick offenses don't work and that UT's roots is power football, not flash.
Click to expand...

I think more of the fact he couldn't hire some type of bigger name is what disturbs me. Clawson is a good coach and will do well at Bowling Green, but Fulmer dropped the ball on the hire because he didn't let Clawson bring in the people he needed to run his offense. Look at the fact that Cut brought in his guys and took them with him when he left and that should shed some light on what happened.
 
#9
#9
True g8terh8ter, I don't think that Clawson got a great shot because his style of offense, was not the personnel we had already here at UT (Note: Michigan). I just don't think we were going to see that big of a drop off.
 
#11
#11
g8terh8ter_eric said:
Cut was the discipline when he was here. That was shown to be a FACT this year.
Click to expand...

I heard the same thing from former players I would run in to. They said Cut demanded respeect when he walked in to a romm. He said Fulmer turned in to a politician. This was back in 2005 - 06 timeframe that I had a talk with this guy.
 
#12
#12
I don't think it's any secret that Fulmer had his best years when Cut was there. Hence the reason why I think that Coach Cut is doing wonders at Duke in just his 1st year and in future years.
 
#13
#13
g8terh8ter_eric said:
Now after looking over our classes and subsequent results of the following seasons, I have to retract my statement. I have been sitting here looking at our previous classes from 2002 up until this year and I can honestly say that either Fulmer was a poor judge or character or a poor coach.
Click to expand...

Yeah i think it was both.
 
#14
#14
The easiest way to measure the mark of a good coach is to guage the interest from other teams wanting to hire him. Most of the country was sad to see Phil be fired because he was sobbing on his presser and that tends to pull at a persons heart strings. Lets be real though the majority of support for Fulmer came from within UT. I do not recall any SEC or other schools go Hey Fulmer is available lets fire our guy and get him. How long do you think Saban or Meyer or Stoops would last on the free market, I would think not long. Did Phil love UT? absolutely but that alone does not make him a good coach or should have made him untouchable.
 
#15
#15
wkhardplayhard said:
I couldn't agree more with this statement. Last year, was just horrible, Fulmer just didn't do his homework to know that gimmick offenses don't work and that UT's roots is power football, not flash.
Click to expand...

You know we will NOT go back to power football, right. CLK was brought in to run a prostyle offense. And by gimmick offenses do you mean the spread option which has won 2 of the last 3 MNCs?
 
#16
#16
ClearwaterVol said:
You know we will NOT go back to power football, right. CLK was brought in to run a prostyle offense. And by gimmick offenses do you mean the spread option which has won 2 of the last 3 MNCs?
Click to expand...

Defense won the last 3 BCS NCs.
 
#18
#18
The dichotomy of 1993-1998 and 2002-2008 will always baffle me. The thing that is so unusual about the Fulmer case is that typically a NC winning coach is able to be consistant. Losing seasons don't happen.

Maybe we didn't recruit the RIGHT players, maybe discipline left with Cut. WHo knows?

It was obvious it was time for Phil to go. I just hope Kiff is the real thing or we may not smell a SEC title for many years.
 
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#19
#19
g8terh8ter_eric said:
As many of your know, I have mentioned many times before where I believed that Fulmer was one of the greatest closer recruiters in college football. Now after looking over our classes and subsequent results of the following seasons, I have to retract my statement. I have been sitting here looking at our previous classes from 2002 up until this year and I can honestly say that either Fulmer was a poor judge or character or a poor coach. I have looked over multiple 5* talent that bit the dust or went up in smoke. I have seen the 2* and 3* talent that never saw the field. I have also seen some guys that came up and played well. The thing that eludes my perception or thinking is, where is the WOW factor in those classes?? When did we lose out "edge"?? Did we fall that far behind in times and lose touch with what recruits really wanted?? What is the answer??

You can point to many things as reasons or answers, but simple fact of the matter is Fulmer rode talent and great assistants that he didn't keep around too long to the top. I can honestly say this, Fulmer may have been a great recruiter at one point in time, but he can't hold a candle to the best in the business now. I apologize Phil, but I am glad you were let go.

We have a new energy now, and I think it will be something that will get us back on the scene. Do I expect NC's, not at this point. What I do expect is, getting solid players that can contribute from Day 1, instead of their junior year.
Click to expand...

I think after a certain amount of time things just become stale. No one can argue with his success from 93-2001. You also can't say he had nothing to do with that. But the same goes for 2002-2008. He is accountable for that as well.
 
#20
#20
tsvol06 said:
I think after a certain amount of time things just become stale. No one can argue with his success from 93-2001. You also can't say he had nothing to do with that. But the same goes for 2002-2008. He is accountable for that as well.
Click to expand...

This sums it up best.
Many fans of Fulmer are split among these years.
The o5 and o8 Season were terrible, but the 02 Season IMO was the catalyst for were Fulmer ended up. He had the oppurtunity to evaluate R Sanders and Offensive Staff then but he chose not to and therefore got "stale."
 
#21
#21
Fulmer's only outstanding class over the past 4 years was the 2007 class. The 2005 class looked good on paper but fizzled big time. The 2006 and 2008 classes didn't even look good on paper but we'll squeeze some productivity out of them. If we can pull close to a top 10 class this year (which I believe is possible, if not probable), then we could have a fairly talented team in 2010, particularly if EB stays for his senior season.
 
#23
#23
Majors was a great recruiter at UT then he went to Pittsburgh and had lots of problems. Facilities and location make a big difference.
 
#24
#24
oklavol said:
Majors was a great recruiter at UT then he went to Pittsburgh and had lots of problems. Facilities and location make a big difference.
Click to expand...

I think that Fulmer rode that success for at least 2-3 years into becoming the HC at UT. I just can't get past that Fulmer hasn't really coached ANYONE up. If I am missing something, I hope that someone can show me where I am going wrong.
 
#25
#25
GmanTN said:
The easiest way to measure the mark of a good coach is to guage the interest from other teams wanting to hire him. Most of the country was sad to see Phil be fired because he was sobbing on his presser and that tends to pull at a persons heart strings. Lets be real though the majority of support for Fulmer came from within UT. I do not recall any SEC or other schools go Hey Fulmer is available lets fire our guy and get him. How long do you think Saban or Meyer or Stoops would last on the free market, I would think not long. Did Phil love UT? absolutely but that alone does not make him a good coach or should have made him untouchable.
Click to expand...

he does keep saying that he would like to coach, but you're right...where are the offers??
 
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