Tonight I will lay down the guitar...

#51
#51
Vercingetorix said:
Johnny Majors built that team. Rodney Garner got us a few great recruiting classes that put us over the top.

Fulmer mostly just stood around in the 90s and watched us lose to Florida. We got lucky against them one year and boom, he won his national championship. Given the way he assumed his position and how much money he's parlayed that into, and no, I don't feel sorry for him at all either. Not at all.
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That's one of the stupidest posts ever on this forum, and in a such a large pool of candidates, that is quite an achievement.

How in the hell do you give Johnny Majors credit for a program that reached it's height in years 3-10 after he left it?

Feel sorry for him or don't, like him or don't, respect him or don't; but if you don't recognize his achievement it reflects poorly on you, not him. Fulmer directed the UT program to levels rivaled only by the late 30s and early 50s, levels Johnny never reached even though he spent as much time in the chair as Phil.

Phil did better with better talent than without; he did better with better recruiters on his staff than without; he did better with a better OC than without. He has overstayed his effectiveness at winning championships and playing in BCS bowls. He was still the man with the headset for the greatest period of UT football during the lifetime of anybody on this board.
 
#52
#52
cotton said:
That's one of the stupidest posts ever on this forum, and in a such a large pool of candidates, that is quite an achievement.

How in the hell do you give Johnny Majors credit for a program that reached it's height in years 3-10 after he left it?

Feel sorry for him or don't, like him or don't, respect him or don't; but if you don't recognize his achievement it reflects poorly on you, not him. Fulmer directed the UT program to levels rivaled only by the late 30s and early 50s, levels Johnny never reached even though he spent as much time in the chair as Phil.

Phil did better with better talent than without; he did better with better recruiters on his staff than without; he did better with a better OC than without. He has overstayed his effectiveness at winning championships and playing in BCS bowls. He was still the man with the headset for the greatest period of UT football during the lifetime of anybody on this board.
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Agree 100%
 
#53
#53
cotton said:
That's one of the stupidest posts ever on this forum, and in a such a large pool of candidates, that is quite an achievement.

How in the hell do you give Johnny Majors credit for a program that reached it's height in years 3-10 after he left it?

Feel sorry for him or don't, like him or don't, respect him or don't; but if you don't recognize his achievement it reflects poorly on you, not him. Fulmer directed the UT program to levels rivaled only by the late 30s and early 50s, levels Johnny never reached even though he spent as much time in the chair as Phil.

Phil did better with better talent than without; he did better with better recruiters on his staff than without; he did better with a better OC than without. He has overstayed his effectiveness at winning championships and playing in BCS bowls. He was still the man with the headset for the greatest period of UT football during the lifetime of anybody on this board.
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The best era was 3-6 years after Majors left. Most of Phil's best coaches were brought in by Majors. Nearly every hire/promotion Phil made was a pathetic failure.
 
#54
#54
kptvol said:
The best era was 3-6 years after Majors left. Most of Phil's best coaches were brought in by Majors. Nearly every hire/promotion Phil made was a pathetic failure.
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I'd measure the best period as 95-01, where we finished in the top 10 all but one year with 2 conference titles, a national championship, and 3 BCS apperances and 3 Citrus Bowl wins. That's a period Majors never matched, and in all likelihood, never would have, regardless of who hired Chavis or Cut (or Fulmer.)
 
#55
#55
cotton said:
That's one of the stupidest posts ever on this forum, and in a such a large pool of candidates, that is quite an achievement.
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Thanks for the personal insult. I was not particularly sober late last night and was clearly exaggerating. Still, I stand by the general point. Fulmer took over a program which was already on its way up. He maintained that upward trajectory for several years, taking Tennessee football to its highest modern point, but once the inevitable decline began from its highest point, he was unable to do anything to arrest it.

I thought Fulmer was a great coach in the 90s. But now that we've seen the entire arc of his career play out, he was either a great coach who got soft and forgot how to do his job, or he was merely a decent coach who stepped into a good situation and caught lightning in a bottle with a few consecutive recruiting classes. Take your pick. Either way he hasn't been been able to do it twice.
 
#56
#56
Vercingetorix said:
Thanks for the personal insult. I was not particularly sober late last night and was clearly exaggerating. Still, I stand by the general point. Fulmer took over a program which was already on its way up. He maintained that upward trajectory for several years, taking Tennessee football to its highest modern point, but once the inevitable decline began from its highest point, he was unable to do anything to arrest it.

I thought Fulmer was a great coach in the 90s. But now that we've seen the entire arc of his career play out, he was either a great coach who got soft and forgot how to do his job, or he was merely a decent coach who stepped into a good situation and caught lightning in a bottle with a few consecutive recruiting classes. Take your pick. Either way he hasn't been been able to do it twice.
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The insult was intended towards the post, not the poster, and with this one I agree.

Fulmer took over a strong program, and it got stronger. It doesn't even matter why or how he did it, but it did get done under his stewardship. It isn't getting done anymore, and it doesn't really matter why that is happening, either. It is simply time to go in a different direction.
 
#58
#58
As we approach the end of Fulmer's run, I think we should all go to the final 2 home games and give him a great goodbye. Even if you don't think fondly of him right now due to the piss poor program, he brought us good things, too.

It's like a divorce. You can't stand that person right now, but you reflect on all the good times.
 
#59
#59
kptvol said:
I'd put Robert Ayers up there. It's pretty sad we only managed to get one productive year out of him. I'm having a hard time rationalizing how much PT Xavier Mitchell and Antonio Reynolds got the last couple of years. Wes and Robert appear to be much better. Seems like MacGlothlin or whatever (DT from 2006) should have been usurped by someone, as well.
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Ayers has been a pleasant surprise.
 
#60
#60
jakez4ut said:
i would say that's a reflection of the overall leadership on this team, coaches and players. we rely to often on the playes developing themselves in to leaders.

point being, this is the same affliction we saw several years ago with players on their cell phones at the Peach bowl, or the team walking out on to the field in the Cotton bowl against KSU.......or the off field issues over the pat 5 years........

it's all symptomatic of a larger problem.....
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I'm of the belief that leaders are born, not made. We've had too many quitters on this team take the field rather than where they should be - complaining on the practice squad.
 
#62
#62
One is a belief and the others were predictions. But if it somehow makes you feel better to point out incorrect predictions, have at it.

I never want UT to fail, and I always want UAT to fail. They are painfully headed in opposite directions.
 
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