Tommy Tuberville details how Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams flipped Tennessee commitments to Auburn

#28
#28
livefaith said:
We ended up w a "loaded" stable of RBs that year. Keldrick Williams(bust), Derrick Tinsley(decent), Jabari Davis(overrated), and Cedrick Houston(Good but had unknown med issue discovered later). AU ended up with the 2 of this high rated group of 6, who were both AA level for multiple years. :-\ This was one of the major recruiting losses that started Phil's slide. Later there was the Patrick Willis debacle.
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Phil didn't start to slip recruiting wise until the mid 2000s, but those were definitely big losses.

Despite not getting Cadillac and RB he actually had the #1 class in the country in 2000, #4 in 2001, #3 in 2002 (1st in the SEC). He had the #1 or #2 class in the SEC for something like 4-5 consecutive years in the late 90s/early 2000s.

The longer that Saban, Richt, and Urban were in the conference though, the worse Phil's recruiting got. He had "slipped" to 10th nationally in 2003 (4th SEC), 11th nationally in 2004 (4th SEC), rebounded in 2005 to 4th nationally, then was 29th nationally in 2006 after that awful 2005 season. He followed that up with another doozy in 2008 (33rd nationally). Phil's downfall was caused largely by Richt, Urban, and Saban's (mostly while at LSU) recruiting dominance. They came in and ate his lunch.
 
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#29
#29
05_never_again said:
Phil didn't start to slip recruiting wise until the mid 2000s, but those were definitely big losses.

Despite not getting Cadillac and RB he actually had the #1 class in the country in 2000, #4 in 2001, #3 in 2002 (1st in the SEC). He had the #1 or #2 class in the SEC for something like 4-5 consecutive years in the late 90s/early 2000s.

The longer that Saban, Richt, and Urban were in the conference though, the worse Phil's recruiting got. He had "slipped" to 10th nationally in 2003 (4th SEC), 11th nationally in 2004 (4th SEC), rebounded in 2005 to 4th nationally, then was 29th nationally in 2006 after that awful 2005 season. He followed that up with another doozy in 2008 (33rd nationally). Phil's downfall was caused largely by Richt, Urban, and Saban's (mostly while at LSU) recruiting dominance. They came in and ate his lunch.
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This all day long. Phil lost the fire and the kids could feel it. Plus his supporting cast by 2005 was 2nd level recruiters at best.
 
#30
#30
SpookyAction said:
This all day long. Phil lost the fire and the kids could feel it. Plus his supporting cast by 2005 was 2nd level recruiters at best.
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And that's honestly my biggest reservation about him as AD. Once all of Johnny Majors' coaches moved on, Phil never showed that he could replace them.

Ironically, Dave Clawson (the hire that got him fired) might've been the only good one. Aside from Clawson, the Phil Fulmer coaching tree is not particularly impressive.
 
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#31
#31
Glocker_Alum_2005 said:
I have talked to many Alabamians, Bammers and not, who believe he is wholly unqualified for the job. But anybody with an R beside their name, who didn't have a checkered past like Roy Moore, was going to win.
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Glad to see my vote counted; had I lived in a swing state; all bets are off. As far as IQ is concerned; Tubs is easily on par with the rest of them. It's so easy to critique everyone you consider a foe.
 
#32
#32
DiderotsGhost said:
And that's honestly my biggest reservation about him as AD. Once all of Johnny Majors' coaches moved on, Phil never showed that he could replace them.

Ironically, Dave Clawson (the hire that got him fired) might've been the only good one. Aside from Clawson, the Phil Fulmer coaching tree is not particularly impressive.
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I don't consider Clawson as part of Fulmer's "Tree". Only here for what; two years? Fulmer never hired anyone Good Enough to Make Him look Pedestrian.
 
#33
#33
If memory serves me correctly, neither amounted to much in the nfl.

I would imagine Brown would have been more successful in the nfl as a LB.
 
#34
#34
DiderotsGhost said:
And that's honestly my biggest reservation about him as AD. Once all of Johnny Majors' coaches moved on, Phil never showed that he could replace them.

Ironically, Dave Clawson (the hire that got him fired) might've been the only good one. Aside from Clawson, the Phil Fulmer coaching tree is not particularly impressive.
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I've been a supporter of PF as AD. But, this right here is pretty tough to argue. But, then again, I don't think John Curries coaching tree was very good either. Phil locked down Barnes from the UCLA offers, so I give him a huge point for that. He fired Holly, even though a year late (for Phil. 3 years for the program) and gets another point. Hired a bargain coach to replace that I want to take a 1/2 point away for, but time will tell. Extended Pruitt 3-4 month before he should and it looks like a disastrous decision, so I'm taking a point away there. That was Hamiltonesque contract work.
 
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#35
#35
The loss of Cadillac was huge. Brown would have been an LB anyway, but agree that losing Cadillac was a key part of Fulmer's decline. We probably beat them handily in 2004 had that gone the other way, and maybe win the SEC that year.
 
#37
#37
BanditVol said:
And why the F is Tubberville commenting on this now.
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It's just a podcast that somebody does. I suppose podcasts are like TV shows and are made to sell potato chips. That's all the motivation you need for that. I guess he could have refused to be on it, but free publicity would be hard to turn down while you're running for office.
 
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#38
#38
Firebirdparts said:
It's just a podcast that somebody does. I suppose podcasts are like TV shows and are made to sell potato chips. That's all the motivation you need for that. I guess he could have refused to be on it, but free publicity would be hard to turn down while you're running for office.
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The article dates to yesterday, so I was assuming the podcast did as well. Tubberville is already the Senate-elect. Is the podcast from prior to the election? If so your point is valid. If not....
 
#39
#39
livefaith said:
I've been a supporter of PF as AD. But, this right here is pretty tough to argue. But, then again, I don't think John Curries coaching tree was very good either. Phil locked down Barnes from the UCLA offers, so I give him a huge point for that. He fired Holly, even though a year late (for Phil. 3 years for the program) and gets another point. Hired a bargain coach to replace that I want to take a 1/2 point away for, but time will tell. Extended Pruitt 3-4 month before he should and it looks like a disastrous decision, so I'm taking a point away there. That was Hamiltonesque contract work.
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Just as bad as Pruitt's extension was not getting a mitigation clause in his contract re: the buyout. He can sit on his @$$ after being fired and he still gets every dime of it.
 
#40
#40
Glocker_Alum_2005 said:
I have talked to many Alabamians, Bammers and not, who believe he is wholly unqualified for the job. But anybody with an R beside their name, who didn't have a checkered past like Roy Moore, was going to win.
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alot of politicians are not qualified for the job - most just buy thier way in
 
#41
#41
livefaith said:
We ended up w a "loaded" stable of RBs that year. Keldrick Williams(bust), Derrick Tinsley(decent), Jabari Davis(overrated), and Cedrick Houston(Good but had unknown med issue discovered later). AU ended up with the 2 of this high rated group of 6, who were both AA level for multiple years. :-\ This was one of the major recruiting losses that started Phil's slide. Later there was the Patrick Willis debacle.
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Yesterday, Brent Dougherty told a story about the recruitment of Brady James. It's at the 32:10 mark of Hour 1 for the 11-17-20 show. 3HL Podcast It pretty much corroborates something that has been posted on this board many times about the staff resting on its laurels after '98.
 
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#42
#42
VolunteerHillbilly said:
Yesterday, Brent Dougherty told a story about the recruitment of Brady James. It's at the 32:10 mark of Hour 1 for the 11-17-20 show. 3HL Podcast It pretty much corroborates something that has been posted on this board many times about the staff resting on its laurels after '98.
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I'm not sure it was as much of "resting on your laurels" as much as it was "getting your lunch eaten by superior coaches/recruiters." I hate to say it, but Fulmer was as good of a recruiter and coach as he was during the first half of his career because the only other coach worth a damn in this conference was Spurrier. Georgia, Alabama, and LSU were messes and Auburn was wildly inconsistent. If Spurrier happened to be in the SEC West, Phil probably would have won 6 or 8 SEC East titles in a row before losing to Spurrier in the SECCG most years.

Phil started to slip after around 2001, once Richt and Saban entered the conference. It got worse when Urban showed up at Florida. When Phil was fired the program was in much better shape than we are today, but Saban, Richt, and Urban were running circles around him by the time he was fired.
 
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#43
#43
05_never_again said:
I'm not sure it was as much of "resting on your laurels" as much as it was "getting your lunch eaten by superior coaches/recruiters." I hate to say it, but Fulmer was as good of a recruiter and coach as he was during the first half of his career because the only other coach worth a damn in this conference was Spurrier. Georgia, Alabama, and LSU were messes and Auburn was wildly inconsistent. If Spurrier happened to be in the SEC West, Phil probably would have won 6 or 8 SEC East titles in a row before losing to Spurrier in the SECCG most years.

Phil started to slip after around 2001, once Richt and Saban entered the conference. It got worse when Urban showed up at Florida. When Phil was fired the program was in much better shape than we are today, but Saban, Richt, and Urban were running circles around him by the time he was fired.
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Auburn inconsistent? Hmm... doesn’t sound like them.
 
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#44
#44
05_never_again said:
I'm not sure it was as much of "resting on your laurels" as much as it was "getting your lunch eaten by superior coaches/recruiters." I hate to say it, but Fulmer was as good of a recruiter and coach as he was during the first half of his career because the only other coach worth a damn in this conference was Spurrier. Georgia, Alabama, and LSU were messes and Auburn was wildly inconsistent. If Spurrier happened to be in the SEC West, Phil probably would have won 6 or 8 SEC East titles in a row before losing to Spurrier in the SECCG most years.

Phil started to slip after around 2001, once Richt and Saban entered the conference. It got worse when Urban showed up at Florida. When Phil was fired the program was in much better shape than we are today, but Saban, Richt, and Urban were running circles around him by the time he was fired.
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And South Carolina started getting itself together too
 
#45
#45
How does Auburn have better bagmen than we do? It only took 180K to get Cam. That was the best investment by a university ever.
 
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