Good Fulmer Interview

#101
#101
VolsFanInTX said:
I just don't see how anyone in their right mind could call themselves a real fan and then turn around and say truly bad things about a man who, not just in the last 3-4 years, but when you look at it overall, boosted the prestige and tradition of the university and its football program. I realize he had his struggles the past few seasons, but who knows where this program would have been without him.
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Post Majors, it would have taken a buffoon not to have won big and taken over as a giant in the SEC. UGA, AL, Auburn and LSU were down. The fight was only between UF and UT. We generally lost that fight.
 
#102
#102
BigPapaVol said:
I get it, but why laugh at my response when you asked me the question. I am an entirely different personality than Fulmer. I want solutions, not excuses. He's cool with excuses. That difference alone would make us respond very differently to the situation.
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I wasn't laughing at you. I wasn't responding to you specifically when I made the statement about what people would do in similar situations. It was intended for everyone in general. Thats why I stated "people" and not BigPapaVol. It was a statement for discussion as in my opinion.

You may be the exception, but even you gotta admit very few could or would hold it down.

I'm pretty much the same way as you. I hate excuses, but I can't tell you how I would react.

I've never been fired or asked to step down from anything. I would expect it would be a huge jolt to the ego, not sure how I would react, especially if I think I was done wrong. Of course I have a hard time holding my tongue anyway.
 
#103
#103
BigPapaVol said:
Post Majors, it would have taken a buffoon not to have won big and taken over as a giant in the SEC. UGA, AL, Auburn and LSU were down. The fight was only between UF and UT. We generally lost that fight.
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Exactly. He had one major competitor, and he regularly lost to that competitor. Once the other teams in the conference picked up their game, Fulmer's era was over.
 
#104
#104
MrNova said:
Yeah, I worded that terribly. I was trying to make the point that without SS worrying about recruitment, he worked noticeably less, b/c college coaching is about a lot more than X's & O's. Unfortunately, I was responding to THAT while also pretending to do work on my computer not only blew it, but also made my own counter-argument! Ugh.

Rough year, man!
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The problem with your argument is not the fact that you worded it poorly. Your problem is that your facts are 100% incorrect. Spurrier worked a hell of lot more in the NFL than he did while he was a college head coach. He openly complained that his golf game was going to crap because he had to work rather than hit the golf course. NFL coaches work a lot more hours than college head coaches, and it isn't even close.
 
#105
#105
I'm not bashing but I am sure the Fulmer faithful will take it like I am. I have a simple question to ask. If Ol' Phil truly bleeds Orange like he claims, then what would be so hard for him to give an interview along these lines:

Phil: "While I do feel in my heart, that given the time, I could have righted the ship. But the times have changed and the rest of the SEC were gaining ground or had simply past our program by leaps and bounds. What it came down to was that time wasn't on our side at UT. Our school and our fans deserve better than what we were putting on the field and I know that as well as anyone. I understand everyones frustration better than anyone. It wasn't the way that I hoped it would play out but that is the way it went.
That being said, I want the new staff to know that they have my full support. I will make myself available to them if the need ever comes about in any way that I can be of help. We are all in this together and want the same goal: To see Tennessee back on top."

If he were really such a Vol at heart, how hard would that be?
 
#106
#106
VolsFanInTX said:
I just don't see how anyone in their right mind could call themselves a real fan and then turn around and say truly bad things about a man who, not just in the last 3-4 years, but when you look at it overall, boosted the prestige and tradition of the university and its football program. I realize he had his struggles the past few seasons, but who knows where this program would have been without him.
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"Boosted the prestige of the university"? Really? The only thing Fulmer had a hand in that affected the prestige of the university at all was the tutoring scandal following the national championship season.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#108
#108
I wish he would get a job in the SEC east, then we could see him and kiff could get it on out on the football field... Then we wouldn't have to listen to the fulmer/kiff supporters argue back an forth... they could settle it on the field and we could get back to supporting the orange and white as a team not just the individual people.. Of course that may actually make the bickering worse now that I think about it.... It still would be great to see how it would turn out after each of them had about 5 years to build thier programs...
 
#110
#110
MrNova said:
Yeah, I worded that terribly. I was trying to make the point that without SS worrying about recruitment, he worked noticeably less, b/c college coaching is about a lot more than X's & O's. Unfortunately, I was responding to THAT while also pretending to do work on my computer not only blew it, but also made my own counter-argument! Ugh.

Rough year, man!
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Not a problem, man. :good!:
 
#111
#111
BigPapaVol said:
I think without myriad changes in his approach to coaching (ie, expectations and accountability), he will never again win anything at any high level of football. He had no prayer of winning in the SEC at the end. Did you notice the embarrassing nature of the beating we took at the hands of every decent football team we played? That doesn't happen regularly to well coached football teams.
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I agree with everything you said about the teams he has coached in the last few years except for one thing, "accountability".....I feel like for the most part if something was his fault he took accountablity for it, sure he usually dropped that line after we lost the game and that don't make it OK, but he did take responsibility
 
#112
#112
#10_Ainge_#10 said:
I agree with everything you said about the teams he has coached in the last few years except for one thing, "accountability".....I feel like for the most part if something was his fault he took accountablity for it, sure he usually dropped that line after we lost the game and that don't make it OK, but he did take responsibility
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I was talking about player responsibility, but I also think his publicly taking responsibility has nothing to do with real accountability. Our AD never took him to task for the spiral and there was nothing built into his contract that penalized him for lackluster results. He essentially wasn't accountable until the day he was fired.
 
#113
#113
BigPapaVol said:
I was talking about player responsibility, but I also think his publicly taking responsibility has nothing to do with real accountability. Our AD never took him to task for the spiral and there was nothing built into his contract that penalized him for lackluster results. He essentially wasn't accountable until the day he was fired.
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I will agree with that, he did need to discipline the guys that messed more so than what he did....IMO Britton Colquitt is a great example, I think he should have been kicked off instead of just his scholarship taken from him and what not, he was way too lax towards the end, which essentially like it has been said lead to him losing his job....One way or another though, I'll miss the good times we had with him but I am ready to have some more good times with CLK
 
#114
#114
I'm tired of phil fulmer--why doesn't he retire from UT totally. Maybe he'll get another job next season in the Big 10 or Big 12 and I won't have to hear about him again.
 
#116
#116
Vercingetorix said:
"Boosted the prestige of the university"? Really? The only thing Fulmer had a hand in that affected the prestige of the university at all was the tutoring scandal following the national championship season.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
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Your joking right? I doubt there are 10 people on this forum that even know what the heck your talking about.

The National Championship IS the Holey Grail of college football. Its the goal every Division one Team plays for.

The National Championship that we won in 98 put us atop the College Football world. Thats a fact and Coach Fulmer got us there. No one can take that away from us.

If you don't see winning the Championship as being the one big thing that did boost UT's football Prestige then I'm not sure what planet you actually reside on.

You are actually gonna try to convince people that the tutor scandal did more to hurt the University than winning the NC did good for UT?
 
#117
#117
tennfanatic said:
I hope I never have to see him again. He single handedly destroyed our program the last five years. I think a monkey could have done a better job. Its mind boggling to think he kept his job as long as he did.
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Wow,...ur a cool guy. Get over yourself. The man gave most of his adult life to UT,.....what have U ever done for anything more than him? Settle down, he is gone,...get on the wagon for Lane Kitten and hope for the best. Tool.
 
#118
#118
FLSTF-VOL said:
Your joking right? I doubt there are 10 people on this forum that even know what the heck your talking about.

The National Championship IS the Holey Grail of college football. Its the goal every Division one Team plays for.

The National Championship that we won in 98 put us atop the College Football world. Thats a fact and Coach Fulmer got us there. No one can take that away from us.

If you don't see winning the Championship as being the one big thing that did boost UT's football Prestige then I'm not sure what planet you actually reside on.

You are actually gonna try to convince people that the tutor scandal did more to hurt the University than winning the NC did good for UT?
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Did you read the post to which I was responding? It claimed that Fulmer boosted the prestige of "the university and its football program." The football program, yes. We were indeed "atop the College Football world," as say. But you know what that has to do with the prestige of the university as a whole? Nothing. What many VN posters don't get (apparently including you) is that the university is a lot bigger than the football program. As an institution, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's prestige has nothing to do with success on the football field -- if anything, there's an inverse relationship.

There was only one major event during Fulmer's tenure which had any effect on the prestige of the University of Tennessee. And that was the tutoring scandal, when it was a national story for a few days that we appeared to have had tutors doing work for players. That was embarrassing for our reputation as an academic institution. Which, of course, is pretty much the only important component of a university's prestige.

The football national championship made more money for the university than the tutoring scandal cost it, sure. Is that what you're arguing constitutes "prestige"?
 
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#119
#119
And if there are only ten people on this board who know what I'm talking about, then that means that there are only ten people who care anything about the school instead of just the football team. Which is pathetic.
 
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#120
#120
BigPapaVol said:
He had no prayer of winning in the SEC at the end.
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He was one boneheaded decision by Erik Ainge away from doing exactly that in 2007.

He was a good coach, and I suspect he still is a good coach. But things had gone stale at UT for whatever reason. It's happened to a lot of good coaches and programs. In his case, I just don't think he was able to rebuild his coaching staff when he lost good people, and when guys like Meyer, Saban and Richt came into the SEC, it started to hurt him.

I hope Phil finds his way back into coaching next year and does great. I'll root for him to win every game, unless he happens to someday meet the Vols in a BCS Championship Game.
 
#121
#121
jsc1973 said:
He was one boneheaded decision by Erik Ainge away from doing exactly that in 2007.

He was a good coach, and I suspect he still is a good coach. But things had gone stale at UT for whatever reason. It's happened to a lot of good coaches and programs. In his case, I just don't think he was able to rebuild his coaching staff when he lost good people, and when guys like Meyer, Saban and Richt came into the SEC, it started to hurt him.

I hope Phil finds his way back into coaching next year and does great. I'll root for him to win every game, unless he happens to someday meet the Vols in a BCS Championship Game.
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Ditto.

It's funny, 10 year ago the top coaches in college football were guys like Phil, Bobby Bowden and Steve Spurrier.

10 years later, they all suck!!!

Sorry, I think sometimes GOOD coaches just get in a BAD rut. The game itself hasn't changed all that much in the past 10 years, IMO.
 
#123
#123
Vercingetorix said:
And if there are only ten people on this board who know what I'm talking about, then that means that there are only ten people who care anything about the school instead of just the football team. Which is pathetic.
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I agree, it is pathetic but unfortunately true.

When you read the press releases, media guides, recruiting packages and get to the section where all the accomplishments garnered by the University as a whole are listed that Big Ole 1998 National Championship tag is right there with the rest of them. They mention it prominently and proudly. So yes it does add to the Prestige of the University.

On another note, if you are so worried about how our standing as an academic institution is perceived in the public eye then why aren't you just a tad bit more outraged at the recent conduct of our new head coach? Or the conduct of our ex-presidents wife?

The list could go on and on. The tutoring situation was forgotten almost as fast as it came to light.

And yeah "I get it". But your on a football forum here, you do get that right?
 
#124
#124
FLSTF-VOL said:
I agree, it is pathetic but unfortunately true.

When you read the press releases, media guides, recruiting packages and get to the section where all the accomplishments garnered by the University as a whole are listed that Big Ole 1998 National Championship tag is right there with the rest of them. They mention it prominently and proudly. So yes it does add to the Prestige of the University.

On another note, if you are so worried about how our standing as an academic institution is perceived in the public eye then why aren't you just a tad bit more outraged at the recent conduct of our new head coach? Or the conduct of our ex-presidents wife?

The list could go on and on. The tutoring situation was forgotten almost as fast as it came to light.

And yeah "I get it". But your on a football forum here, you do get that right?
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I get that I'm on a football forum. Why is why it annoys the hell out of me when people talk about somebody representing, or embarrassing, or giving his heart and soul to "the university" when they really just mean it as a grandiose way to talk about the football team. It's like intoning majestically about "The United States Government" when you're really just talking about the Forest Service.

And yes, I was outraged about Petersen (although more his job performance than his wife's antics), which is why I'm thrilled he's gone. Kiffin's mouth may or may not be to the point where it's embarrassing to the football program, but it isn't even on the radar as far as being embarrassing to UT as an institution of higher learning.

One thing that may UT fans do not get is how shockingly unimportant football is to the actual university community. Probably 75 percent of the students and faculty don't really give a crap what the football team does.
 
#125
#125
MrNova said:
Ditto.

It's funny, 10 year ago the top coaches in college football were guys like Phil, Bobby Bowden and Steve Spurrier.

10 years later, they all suck!!!

Sorry, I think sometimes GOOD coaches just get in a BAD rut. The game itself hasn't changed all that much in the past 10 years, IMO.
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Interesting, considering you don't think Coach Summitt is a good coach.
 
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