Tennessee AD Phil Fulmer Quietly Received Contract Extension in May (Article)

#26
#26
#27
#27
He is taking a voluntary 15% pay cut - give up something to get something (i.e. extension). Not everything the AD does is tied to performance of the football team, sometimes its simply business.
 
#30
#30
TheMookieMonster said:
No offense to Fulmer, but he does not deserve an ounce of credit for Barnes or Vitello. He didn't hire either one of them. He is just riding their success. The only major sport coach Fulmer has hired is Pruitt and that is who he should be judged upon.
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I wouldn't say this is fully true. No, Barnes was on board before Phil came in. But, Phil has to get 100% of the credit (or blame depending on your viewpoint) for signing CRB to an elite level contract and beating out UCLA for his services. One of the constant mantras here is that "UT Never Pays for a Proven Winner". Fulmer did it. Plain as day right in front of our faces. That should give us hope that he has that same winning instinct when it comes to FB.

The Pruitt hire is a mulligan IMO. After the ButchFlop->ShiatnoMisfire->MattressBurn->ADFire->NationwideChaosSearch, that played out, there was NO smart proven coach willing to put their career at risk to join the mess. Tucker, Steele, (Venables?), and Pruitt were about the best we could have at that point. Fulmer should be judged on Pruitt's replacement IMO. I've already got a jump on judging it thanks to the fact that Pruitt got extended this year. Dumb. We shall see.
 
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#31
#31
SmokyRiverDog said:
Sure, because that would benefit him financially, as well as his rampant ego.
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His methods maybe suspect but his desired end result is the same as ours. A Championship Football Team. Whatever his motivation is, I’m glad he wants UT to win. At least with PF we don’t have to worry about him being an Alabama spy.
 
#32
#32
In all areas except football, I would say he's done a pretty good job. But since football is responsible for about 70% of the total revenue, then the judgment of an athletic director needs to be weighted appropriately.

It certainly true that his services are not in demand enough to justify that kind of money being automatically added to an already exorbitant salary. I think the main issue with UT seems to be the way they pad contracts and offer extensions with no regard for actual performance.

Can you imagine someone in the business world offering a guaranteed several million dollar contract that includes a massive buyout, but includes absolutely no performance requirements in terms of results produced. It's guaranteed money without accountability. And it's killing our athletic program.
 
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#33
#33
Fulmer loves Tennessee football because no other football programs (professional or college) nor any university athletic departments have any use for his feeble capabilities in either regard, Tennessee is stuck with him as he has nowhere to go, but for these programs to excel he needs to go away, there is an abundance of Fulmer fatigue and it is time for the university to move on
 
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#35
#35
Fulmer Pruitt and Butch all gonna be working on Saban's staff in 2022.

The trifecta.
 
#36
#36
He gets a performance bonus as long as the athletic department budget shows a surplus.
I don't think Pruitt is going anywhere for awhile unless a couple big time donors step up.
 
#37
#37
NATHAN05 said:
I WANT TO believe that Fulmer knows what he's doing. He got rid of his friend Holly and I think Kellie was a good hire (jury still out). Rick Barnes was given an extension. He's changed coaches in other sports too that seem to be an upgrade...........the fact that he let Holly go gives me hope that he is going to do the best thing for Tennessee. I dont think he and Pruitt have that close of a relationship and there's no denying he loves Tennessee football..............will he do the right thing and cut his losses and go after a PROVEN head coach?..........that's where I'm conflicted.
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The question I wish I knew the answer to (apart from what in the heck happened in the locker room during halftime vs Georgia) is if Fulmer has at least sent out informal feelers to Freeze to gauge his potential interest in the UT job. I am sure no one in an official capacity would answer that; but from a fan curiosity standpoint, the answer would tell us a lot.
 
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#38
#38
OrangeTsar said:
The question I wish I knew the answer to (apart from what in the heck happened in the locker room during halftime vs Georgia) is if Fulmer has at least sent out informal feelers to Freeze to gauge his potential interest in the UT job. I am sure no one in an official capacity would answer that; but from a fan curiosity standpoint, the answer would tell us a lot.
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When the guy is supposedly telling everyone who will listen that TN is his dream job than I don't really think feelers are required.

But I doubt anyone in the AD has even allowed the thought to enter their mind of Pruitt not being the coach.
 
#39
#39
TartanTurff said:
Fulmer loves Tennessee football because no other football programs (professional or college) nor any university athletic departments have any use for his feeble capabilities in either regard, Tennessee is stuck with him as he has nowhere to go, but for these programs to excel he needs to go away, there is an abundance of Fulmer fatigue and it is time for the university to move on
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This. I cannot forget how he attacked the fans toward the end of the Phlegmatic-Phil-Grimacing-Waddling-Clapping coach mode. Phil was hungry early on, won a NC, then felt he was entitled to a cash flow (or job) for life from UT. I suspect his 'triumphant return' was more about milking extra cash he thought he was entitled and vindication/revenge than any 'love' of Tennessee.

Phil is all about Phil, Phil's greatness, Phil's ego, and Phil's legacy. And cash. Lots and lots of cash. Tennessee? That is the source of the cash. See the previous sentence.

We need a real Doug Dickey type AD who has one focus, success.
 
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#43
#43
As with the previous story about pay cuts, this is all about wins/losses. Losing programs get to swim in s*** while winning programs get to bask in the sun. If the university wants to stop the bleeding, they will.
 
#45
#45
I am sure that everyone of you that are bitching about it would have turned it down if it was offered to you.
 
#47
#47
This is kind of stunning. Glad the good journalism work turned this up. The article came out over the past week about multiple coaches rejecting a proposal to take a reduction in salary. This was all advanced amd proposed by fulmer. Yet that dude got an extension (and raise) himself a couple of months prior to asking them to take a reduction. Man you can’t fix stupid. And we are legitimately stupid at the very top of our university.
 
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#48
#48
TheMookieMonster said:
No offense to Fulmer, but he does not deserve an ounce of credit for Barnes or Vitello. He didn't hire either one of them. He is just riding their success. The only major sport coach Fulmer has hired is Pruitt and that is who he should be judged upon.
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Fulmer does deserve credit for getting Barnes to stay. If Currie, Hart, or Hamilton were here he absolutely would have bolted for UCLA. They would have been unable or unwilling to pull those strings.

He deserves no credit for Vitello, did a discount hire for women's basketball, and the real biggie (Pruitt hire) has been bad so far.
 
#49
#49
The only issue with this is the purported "secrecy" the article highlights. The man gave up 15% through 6/30 and, other than retention bonus, isn't getting any other variable comp. It's really a non-issue other than how we found out about it.
 
#50
#50
VolInNW said:
This. I cannot forget how he attacked the fans toward the end of the Phlegmatic-Phil-Grimacing-Waddling-Clapping coach mode. Phil was hungry early on, won a NC, then felt he was entitled to a cash flow (or job) for life from UT. I suspect his 'triumphant return' was more about milking extra cash he thought he was entitled and vindication/revenge than any 'love' of Tennessee.

Phil is all about Phil, Phil's greatness, Phil's ego, and Phil's legacy. And cash. Lots and lots of cash. Tennessee? That is the source of the cash. See the previous sentence.

We need a real Doug Dickey type AD who has one focus, success.
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I don't think his return was about cash (he already has plenty) but purely about his legacy. I think that Phil does legitimately love the University - he's spent a huge chunk of his adult life in official capacities at the University - but this is about him. Despite what he claimed after he was fired, I don't think he wanted to coach anywhere else, and I don't think he'd want to be involved in an administrative capacity at any other school.

What's interesting is that if Pruitt doesn't work out, and it certainly is heading in that direction, then Phil's legacy goes from great but with a blemish to decidedly mixed. He'll be known as a once great coach that led the program degrade and was fired, then came back a decade later as AD and made a bad football hire that extended the decline that started with him. He's already thought of much more highly by Tennessee people than the outside world, but if Pruitt doesn't work I think lots of Tennessee people will also start to think less of him.
 
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