The 1986 team

#26
#26
Backwards K said:
Yeah, that old "retired on duty" approach from 99-08 led UT to an 85-41 record (.675), 8 bowl games, 6 NYD bowl games, 3 SECCG appearances. 4 times the Vols finished 1st in the East, 3 times they finished 2nd and one time they finished 3rd.

Sure wish, UT had a coach that would "retire on duty" again if that's what it led to. Never have figured out why there are still knuckleheads who take every opportunity to bash a first ballot Hall of Fame coach who loved Tennessee and took the Vols to the greatest heights since Neyland.

As for the 86 Miss State game, after Smith's long TD run for MSU, the Vols drove back down the field and Sanders missed a wide open tight end in the end zone with less than a minute left in the game.
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Right!...............But, then what happened?
 
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#28
#28
--A weak athletic director fired Fulmer while he had a top 5 recruiting class lined up.
--Then hired an idiot who was in over his head and ran off most of the OL on campus
--Then hired a bigger idiot who couldn't recruit or coach

UT has gone 35-40 since firing a first ballot HOF coach who was well respected within the coaching community and replaced him with a couple of idiots.

Obvious, you don't like Fulmer but quit changing history to fit your bias on every thread. Most of us are tired of it and we know the truth anyways!!

Butch is getting the program back on track but it didn't have to be that way.
 
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#29
#29
Volosaurus rex said:
Viewed in the big picture, the first two-thirds of Coach Majors' tenure could be characterized as two slow steps forward, one step back and repeat the cycle. This was evident on a game-to-game basis (i.e. lose to Rutgers, then beat Notre Dame) and season to season, where they slowly improved from 1977-1984, then had the big 1985 season, only to lose traction in '86, rebound to a 10-2-1 record in 1987, and then bottom out with a horrible six-game losing streak to start off the 1988 season. The five-game winning streak that closed out that campaign set us up for a great 1989 season, which marked the beginning of the period of greatest sustained success by Majors at Tennessee. The teams that bookended the 1990 season were absolutely loaded with talent.
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The eighties were weird; we were good in the odd numbered yrs. and bad in evens.
 
#30
#30
KBVol said:
Why don't you tell us what 'happended'....please give us the "I can't stand Philip Fulmer for ever being Tennessee's coach" version.
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Oh, I liked Fulmer. But, I also thought he should have been fired around '05 or '06.

Let's face it..........he once recruited at a very high level. Well, he and his staff. But, he also didn't hang on to some of those key pieces to the coaching staff. Okay, okay, they left for better opportunities. No, not really, just more money.

If you notice he became complacent in regards to recruiting and staying at the top. ...

Everyone in the SEC hired better coaches around him and they were better recruiters. He was losing recruits to the likes of LSU, Florida, Georgia, Auburn and eventually Alabama when he was on his way out. At one time he got those recruits.... The league as a whole had gotten better and Fulmer didn't.

He made some pretty bone-headed hires as well. Especially after Coach Cut left...........

Not to mention he NEVER out coached anyone, he just won on the stacked talent he had. Until that finally dried up.

Hence, he was never hired after he was fired. He was never a hot commodity or he would've been hired.
 
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#31
#31
madbamahater said:
Oh, I liked Fulmer. But, I also thought he should have been fired around '05 or '06.

Let's face it..........he once recruited at a very high level. Well, he and his staff. But, he also didn't hang on to some of those key pieces to the coaching staff. Okay, okay, they left for better opportunities. No, not really, just more money.

If you notice he became complacent in regards to recruiting and staying at the top.

Everyone in the SEC hired better coaches around him and they were better recruiters. He was losing recruits to the likes of LSU, Florida, Georgia, Auburn and eventually Alabama when he was on his way out. At one time he got those recruits.... The league as a whole had gotten better and Fulmer didn't.

He made some pretty bone-headed hires as well. Especially after Coach Cut left...........

Not to mention he NEVER out coached anyone, he just won on the stacked talent he had. Until that finally dried up.

Hence, he was never hired after he was fired. He was never a hot commodity or he would've been hired.
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Ah, stroke of genius. Fire him after his first losing season (2005). Ever. Yeah, that would have worked out well.

Ok, fire him after 2006. After a 9-4 record coming in 2nd in the east. EOS ranked #25. Wow. Just another stroke of genius.

Funny you conveniently forgot that in 2007 we won the East finishing #12. Just to be fired 10 months later.

as you say "lets face it" - firing him was the single biggest mistake our football program has ever made. Well, that and hiring Mike Hamilton.
 
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#32
#32
The not so smooth transition from Majors to Fulmer affected Fulmer's firing. Too divided of a fan base... it's still divided more than 20 years later. If Majors would have retired and handed off the program to Fulmer, Fulmer would have been given more time to build it back.
 
#33
#33
GreveHaller said:
Ah, stroke of genius. Fire him after his first losing season (2005). Ever. Yeah, that would have worked out well.

Ok, fire him after 2006. After a 9-4 record coming in 2nd in the east. EOS ranked #25. Wow. Just another stroke of genius.

Funny you conveniently forgot that in 2007 we won the East finishing #12. Just to be fired 10 months later.

as you say "lets face it" - firing him was the single biggest mistake our football program has ever made. Well, that and hiring Mike Hamilton.
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Fulmer coached the Vols for 16 years. Correct?

First 8 years he had a 82% winning percentage

Second 8 years he had a 67% winning percentage
 
#34
#34
madbamahater said:
Oh, I liked Fulmer. But, I also thought he should have been fired around '05 or '06.

Let's face it..........he once recruited at a very high level. Well, he and his staff. But, he also didn't hang on to some of those key pieces to the coaching staff. Okay, okay, they left for better opportunities. No, not really, just more money.

If you notice he became complacent in regards to recruiting and staying at the top. ...

Everyone in the SEC hired better coaches around him and they were better recruiters. He was losing recruits to the likes of LSU, Florida, Georgia, Auburn and eventually Alabama when he was on his way out. At one time he got those recruits.... The league as a whole had gotten better and Fulmer didn't.

He made some pretty bone-headed hires as well. Especially after Coach Cut left...........

Not to mention he NEVER out coached anyone, he just won on the stacked talent he had. Until that finally dried up.

Hence, he was never hired after he was fired. He was never a hot commodity or he would've been hired.
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Look, I was actually one of the guys looking for a change in 2008...I hated the utterly classless manner in which it happened, but I personally was ready for a change. Phil had slipped in recruiting, made a bad hire or two, had a couple of 5 win seasons which was untenable. However, in retrospect, it gets my hackles up a little bit when I see guys slamming one of the 2 greatest coaches in school history. He was 20-6 with 2 SECe 1st place finishes in the two seasons prior to the 2005 season. He was 19-8 the next 2 seasons afterward, including an SECCG appearance after a 10 win season in 2007....I would think that a guy with his track record, history and allegiance would've been afforded, in retrospect, a little more "rope" than only 1 more season to get the ship righted. Either way, IMHO, he deserves much more respect than he is often given on here for what he gave and the success that he brought to our program.
 
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#36
#36
madbamahater said:
Fulmer coached the Vols for 16 years. Correct?

First 8 years he had a 82% winning percentage

Second 8 years he had a 67% winning percentage
Click to expand...

Yep. Bet you would have enjoyed winning 67% of the games over the last 6 years. Going to a couple of SECCGs during that time would have been nice too (he averaged one trip every 3 years).

Also, anyone who was still carrying a torch for Majors 16 years after he got himself fired was not much of a UT fan.
 
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#37
#37
That was legit 2 loss team (Auburn and Bama) losing 3 more with 4th quarter leads. I was at every home game and they happened as described in the previous posts.
The one that was not mentioned specifically was Carlos Reveiz attempting a 27 yard fg down 14-13 at GT with 1:27 left. He slipped on the turf and fell on his back and dropped to 2-5.
 
#38
#38
madbamahater said:
Fulmer coached the Vols for 16 years. Correct?

First 8 years he had a 82% winning percentage

Second 8 years he had a 67% winning percentage
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Ok, even with a 67% he was winning 8.5 games per year.

Of course, that's including the lame duck season of 2008 where he was fired half way thru the season. Take away that season and the previous 7 have an average of 9 wins per year. That's 1 less than his first 8 season at the 82% of 10 wins. Your argument is bunk. I'll take a 10 win, 9 win, even 8.5 win season all day long over the crap we just put up with due to an incompetent AD as well as a knee jerk cry baby immature fan base.
 
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#39
#39
I remember losing to Army i believe 31-29, coming of the 85 Sugar Bowl victory the 86 team was a huge let down for the fans, we all thought we were back, i remember all the jokes that i had to take at work on Monday after the lose to Army, but you know w hat old TP told them, to get FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF:the_finger:
 
#40
#40
GreveHaller said:
Ok, even with a 67% he was winning 8.5 games per year.

Of course, that's including the lame duck season of 2008 where he was fired half way thru the season. Take away that season and the previous 7 have an average of 9 wins per year. That's 1 less than his first 8 season at the 82% of 10 wins. Your argument is bunk. I'll take a 10 win, 9 win, even 8.5 win season all day long over the crap we just put up with due to an incompetent AD as well as a knee jerk cry baby immature fan base.
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So maybe Fulmer raised the bar too high for himself and became a victim of his own success.

He went from winning 82% of his games to 67%.

You are right, 67% with a potential 14 games season is around winning 8 games. An 82% winning record would be around winning 11-12 games a year with a potential 14 game season (12 reg season, SEC champ game + bowl game).

In this day in age winning 8 games isn't going to cut it with UT fans and a program that expects winning 11-12 games a year. That's just the reality. Does that make it right? No! But, that's the reality.

Has UT done that since firing Fulmer? No! But Fulmer was never going to get back to where he once was. The other top SEC schools just simply got better. UT went from beating them to losing to them and losing the recruiting battles as well.

It was time for Fulmer to go and I agree it went down badly. But, I know how he is, he is very stubborn and bullheaded. It actually could have gotten worse. He would have NEVER bowed out on his own without being threatened of a firing.

Hamilton REALLY screwed things up worse and it snowballed with his beyond foolish hiring decisions.

NOW, UT has a guy who has gotten them back on the recruiting trail. Can he win upwards of 10-12 games a year at least somewhat regularly?

That's the age old question around here. But, Fulmer wouldn't have done that. How do I know? The math doesn't lie in the second half of his career.........
 
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#41
#41
Trying to figure out how a thread about the miserable 86 season derailed into yet another Fulmer debate. Fulmer was the OL coach in 86.
 
#43
#43
Came to a thread discussing our 1986 Vols...left wondering how the offensive line coach replaced Coach Majors and coached sixteen years...in one year! :w00t:
 
#44
#44
1986 season was a very frustrating season. After the 85 season, everyone thought the Big Orange was back and then struggled a little in the opener vs UTEP before getting stunned at home vs Miss State (State started that year 6-0 before faltering down the stretch).

Losing to Army and Ga Tech were head scratchers and they were simply manhandled by Auburn. Alabama game was really frustrating because Bama ran the same play over and over with no adjustments being made.
 
#45
#45
That was probably a 9 win team that won 7. Never understood why Reggie Cobb and Alvin Harper got redshirted that year. When they were available a year later Vols won 10 and were ranked. Then somehow in 88 Carl Pickens and Chuck Webb were redshirted and Vols only won 5. Next year almost won National Title when they became available. The 86 team also had severe deficiencies up front on defense thus the losses to Auburn and Bama that year.
 
#46
#46
Backwards K said:
1986 season was a very frustrating season. After the 85 season, everyone thought the Big Orange was back and then struggled a little in the opener vs UTEP before getting stunned at home vs Miss State (State started that year 6-0 before faltering down the stretch).

Losing to Army and Ga Tech were head scratchers and they were simply manhandled by Auburn. Alabama game was really frustrating because Bama ran the same play over and over with no adjustments being made.
Click to expand...

Other than maybe 2005, I can't think of a more disappointing year as compared to expectations.
 
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#48
#48
madbamahater said:
In 1986 UT had NO QB
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Jeff Francis was a good QB...revisionist history doesn't change that. He was a major step down from Tony Robinson and he didn't have the safety net of Tim McGee like Dickey did, but he represented us well.
 
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