Was Firing Phillip Fulmer Worth Rocky Top Reeling?
No one person has ever split a fanbase as much as Phillip Fulmer. Throughout Fulmer’s final years at Tennessee there was no middle ground on the head coach who played for the Vols, later became an assistant, and then became the most successful Tennessee head coach since some guy named Neyland. Fulmer’s detractors just shouted louder than his supporters. I was one of the detractors. I felt the program had become mediocre. Fulmer was not competing with the Meyers’s and Saban’s of the SEC. It took him a while to learn how to beat Richt, too. General perception was that Fulmer had lost his fire. The drive that led Fulmer to a 152-52 career record as head coach seemed to be slowly fading. As a result, the “it’s time for a change” group got their wish. Fulmer was canned after 16 years as Tennessee’s head coach. Since that fateful November day, the one that saw coach Fulmer crying at the press conference announcing his termination, Tennessee’s football program has gone through the roughest 68
