Looking at what Fulmer is leaving behind...

[Liper]

...his legacy may be somewhere between Fulmer in the 90s and Bill Battle.

1. Assuming we finish the season at 3-9 - worst TN team in history
2. We will have completed the worst 4 year run since the bottom feeders of the late 70s
3. We will have finished 5 of last 9 seasons unranked in one of the major polls
4. The program is far worse off than when Fulmer took it over
5. Because this is a senior laden team, we are going to be in a semi-Michigan situation with rebuilding
6. The interest in the program may be at an all time low for at least the modern era
7. It will take a dynamic coach to return us to anywhere close to competitive within 2-3 years

This is eerily similiar to the situation that ran off Bill Battle, almost unaminously acclaimed as the worst coach in TN history. So while we can toss around CPF's win pct and NC, at the end of the day, he has essentially taken a top program and ran it into the ditch. That may sound harsh, but look at what he's leaving the next coach. Not to mention the fact that any difficulties hiring the next guy can be attributed to how bad he has left things.

 

[GoBigOrange86]

Yes, the program is in shambles. Yes, we are going to suck pretty bad for the next few years.

Nothing to do but grin and bear it. No use in throwing around blame for what's happened. What's done is done.

 

[awebb7]

Get the freshmen you want and play them four years.

 

[Liper]

Part II

As not to be imbalanced, the "Fulmer of the 90s" portion of the legacy is well documented:

Elevation of the program to national prominence
2 SEC champs
1 NC
45-5 over 4 seasons, best in TN history
Represented TN well and is respected in the coaching community for how he did things

 

[tm3]

because people tend to strongly overweight the recency factor when making evaluations (stocks are up, wow time to buy -- stocks are down, get out and stay out!), i think that CPF's legacy is going to be predominantly that he drove us into the ditch.

while i am very angry at what he has done to my alma mater, i think it is sad that he likely won't get much (deserved) recognition for the good things he did for UT football.

while i appreciate the Battle analogy, i think we are much worse off now than when BB left. BB never had a losing season, while CPF is on track to have the worst season in history. plus when BB left we had the shining star pied piper unanimously desired Johnny Majors coming home. any coach that we get now is going to be more debated and scrutinized.