Did you forget the whole Curry and Schiano thing? The whole search was a disaster to begin with, then Vol Twitter got involved. No self respecting coach would take the job, and Curry offered several. When Fulmer managed to talk himself in to "save the day" he had no options but a coordinator or another "up and comer."
How quickly we forget.
I think you nailed it here. Fulmer was in a position to push against the status quo, i.e. Curry, Haslams and the chancellor. (was it Jimmy Cheek at that time), and dang- even Peyton was endorsing the Schiano hire.
My opinion, and I know you have yours, is that Schiano would have also been a mistake.
Some impressions that came out of that search. a) Curry said he would open his pocketbook and search high and low, yet it became obvious that Schiano was the only one looked at. Had Curry done his job, at that point could have hit a home run and hired a real coach. He may have had no options - the power brokers behind the scenes might have pushed Schiano. Regardless, the search became sullied at that point, and the house of cards began to tumble. Tennessee=damaged goods.
b) as a result of the Schiano debacle, Fulmer didn't have many options and the clock was ticking on getting someone in for the recruiting cycle. (Wasn't that December the first early signing day?). Timing couldn't have been worse for recruiting.
So Fulmer went with a guy that had a national championship defense. Resume from that standpoint looked good, but in reality, Curry screwed this thing up so bad, that CORNBREAD was the last choice. It was a gamble we lost. Fulmer lost. So here we are.