The Men that Killed UT Football

I will never get the damn Fulmer hate. We’d be looking at Schiano right now if it weren’t for him. You can say it was the fans but at the end of the day he leveraged the fans and got Currie out of here. Not to mention the man won a natty and got the best players we’ve ever had to come play here. And he will be the architect of any success we have in the next decade.
 
When Spurrier left Florida in 2001 Fulmer was handed the keys to the SEC and he ran it into the ditch. Zero SEC championships.

Fulmer became a very average coach when Spurrier, Meyer, and Saban showed up.

This is another funny thing I hear from folks like you. Well, first of all, Spurrier was in the league before Fulmer, so you can strike him off the list.

But here is what's funny....NO ONE has competed with Meyer and Saban. Unfortunate, but true. They are the only two coaches in history to win national championships at two different schools and have 9 between them. They have collectively won 8 of the last 12 national championships.

EVERYONE "became average" when Meyer and saban came into the league. LMAO.
 
I was at that game in 2001, and it was a heartbreaker. Total domination the first half and total confusion the second half. When Casey Clausen walked on the field carrying an orange rose I had a feeling we might have been overconfident.
Me too. I had a horrible feeling walking to the Ga Dome and all these women carrying roses.
 
I believe that Hamilton is the main person to blame for not just the issues of the football team but for the entire UT athletic program for several years. Football after firing Fulmer hasn't been the same. Basketball hasn't had the stability we all want in the program until recently. Don't get us all started on the baseball program. Hamilton was not only a football problem, he was a UT athletics nightmare.
 
I believe that Hamilton is the main person to blame for not just the issues of the football team but for the entire UT athletic program for several years. Football after firing Fulmer hasn't been the same. Basketball hasn't had the stability we all want in the program until recently. Don't get us all started on the baseball program. Hamilton was not only a football problem, he was a UT athletics nightmare.

IMO Hamilton was over-promoted. He seemed to have above average skills with the department's financial and building issues. But, he exhibited little working knowledge about the sports that were entrusted to him. It's a shame, because I think he meant well. He should have stuck to accounting.
 
The quick fix mentality was the issue IMO.

Hamilton gave Fulmer the extension, he should have stuck with him.

To be fair, if we had hired the right guy it would have been a quick fix. The program wasn’t in that bad of shape, just stagnant. But we not only didn’t hire the right guy, we’ve continuously hired the wrong guys since. SMH
 
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To be fair, if we had hired the right guy it would have been a quick fix. The program wasn’t in that bad of shape, just stagnant. But we not only didn’t hire the right guy, we’ve continuously hired the wrong guys since. SMH
We were playing black jack and were on 18 and said "hit me". We busted. The odds were against improving on 152-52, and we're now staring down the barrel of 62-63 in the 10 seasons since.
 
To be fair, if we had hired the right guy it would have been a quick fix. The program wasn’t in that bad of shape, just stagnant. But we not only didn’t hire the right guy, we’ve continuously hired the wrong guys since. SMH


True. But measuring Fulmer against Urban and Saban was a bad comparison. I know someone who constantly cited Fulmer's salary in 2008 as a reason to expect performance. Fulmer's salary in 2008 was either the 3rd or 4th highest in the conference, and so was not too far off his performance.

Fulmer 2008 may not have been Fulmer 1998, but he likely was still well above average. His career win percentage is 0.670 for chrissakes.

Thus ANY CHANGE we made was more than likely for the worst. Which calls for patience in making the change, and in 2008 a very vocal but likely minority portion of our fanbase had no patience.

And those people can look back at the last 10-11 years of ruin and know that they deserve every bit of it.
 
True. But measuring Fulmer against Urban and Saban was a bad comparison. I know someone who constantly cited Fulmer's salary in 2008 as a reason to expect performance. Fulmer's salary in 2008 was either the 3rd or 4th highest in the conference, and so was not too far off his performance.

Fulmer 2008 may not have been Fulmer 1998, but he likely was still well above average. His career win percentage is 0.670 for chrissakes.

Thus ANY CHANGE we made was more than likely for the worst. Which calls for patience in making the change, and in 2008 a very vocal but likely minority portion of our fanbase had no patience.

And those people can look back at the last 10-11 years of ruin and know that they deserve every bit of it.

This is about the most realistic assessment I’ve read.

And then I’m thinking.....and Kiffin ran of Tajh Boyd....and Clemson.........if we had given Phil a little more time, or if the ones making the change had just been more sensible, intelligent, informed etc. before making it.
 
This is about the most realistic assessment I’ve read.

And then I’m thinking.....and Kiffin ran of Tajh Boyd....and Clemson.........if we had given Phil a little more time, or if the ones making the change had just been more sensible, intelligent, informed etc. before making it.


I know. Every time I look at Clemson, I say, that could or should be us. Tahj Boyd was critical to getting their program going in the right direction.

And I still think Lane was completely FOS. He actually did an in home visit with Boyd, came back, and announced he had wanted to tell him in person that UT was not interested. I think that was horse manure. I think Boyd told Lane to go kick rocks and Lane lied to save face.

I mean, come on, it's Lane!
 
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Great thread topic. I agree with most of the list, but, the #1 spot belongs to -- the fanbase.

The ones that wanted "Phil Forever" despite his blatantly obvious downward spiral.

The ones that hailed the Loser from LA Tech because he said "britches."

The ones that idolized the ConMan from Cincy because he said that UT was his "dream job."

The ones that are all in on CJP because Nicky got him a ring -- Aight.

There was some admirable pushback as the Schiano disaster unfolded, but by and large most fans have passively accepted whatever the powers that be dish out and have continued to line up to buy tickets, merchandise, travel to third rate bowl games, etc.

Unless and until fans start voting with the only thing that matters to admin, ie $dollars$, mediocrity (or worse, like losing 38-13 to VANDERBILT) will be the order of the day.
C’mon, you want donors to stop just so you can get some good seats. Fess up.
 
When a coach wants to win at any legal means, he will take risks
For instance, Saban played the 2nd string QB last season against Clemson and they won
Pruitt should have played Keller more often; especially when it was obvious that JG wasn't getting it done
Pruitt did not want to bruise JG fragile ego so,he continued to,play him
Pruitt is NOT the coach to lead us to the promise land...... Does not really want to win

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