Everybody should have a job like this: You make $2 million a year; when things go well, you get praise and a raise; when things go bad, someone else takes the fall.

Tennessee offensive coordinator Randy Sanders took the fall Monday evening. He announced he was resigning as UT's offensive coordinator.

The offense is a little out of kilter, he said, and "It's my ship."

His ship? Did I miss something?

I even checked the UT football media guide for backup. Just as I thought, Phillip Fulmer still is the head coach. He's also the guy with the long-term contract and the $2 million-a-year salary.

And he's not thinking about resigning.

Why should he? Coordinators come and go, but two-million-dollar contracts don't blow onto your patio every afternoon.

Fulmer is paid that much money to deliver a championship football program. Never mind that the Vols haven't won an SEC championship since 1998. UT fans aren't wearing "Fire Phil" buttons.

"Fire Randy Sanders" has become the battle cry of frustrated fans who wonder how a team ranked third in the country has lost four of seven games and is struggling to finish third in the SEC East. They log onto the firerandysanders.com Web site and wear buttons to the games that read, "Fire Randy." Someone even had a T-shirt at the Knoxville Quarterback Club that read, "Randy Sanders Dating Service: Guaranteed Not To Score."

Coaches are in the entertainment business. They're fair game. So feel free to fire away. And if you hit the wrong target, that's show biz.

But do you really believe this team is 3-4 because of Sanders' play-calling? Please.

He can't hold the football for his running backs. He can't catch the ball for his receivers. He can't throw it for his quarterbacks.

Sanders called the plays when UT beat Florida State for the 1998 national championship. Last year, he helped UT win while rotating two freshman quarterbacks for much of the season; when they were both injured, he helped UT keep winning with transfer Rick Clausen, whom former LSU coach Nick Saban deemed unfit for major-college football.

UT didn't win the East in 2004 because of defense. The Vols outscored Florida 30-28, beat Vanderbilt 38-33 and defeated Kentucky 37-31.

Remember the SEC championship game? Sanders' second-half adjustments helped UT make a game of it against unbeaten Auburn, which finally prevailed 38-28. Arkansas scored 20 points on Auburn. No one else scored more than 16.

This August, Fulmer said no assistant coach in the country did a better job than Sanders last year. Three months later, he accepted his resignation, effective at the end of the season.

Sanders said the resignation was his idea, that he wasn't trying to beat a firing squad and wasn't following the urgings of a boss in dire need of a scapegoat. He talked about how he would like to play golf and fish in the middle of autumn. He talked like a man ready for a career change.

Maybe he is. Maybe he's doing this in the best interest of his team, his family and himself.

The conspiracy theorist in me struggles with that. He reminds me that former UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe is out of work and living in Knoxville while recovering from heart surgery. He also reminds me how many head coaches have tossed coordinators overboard or at least encouraged them to jump.

But Sanders has a history of candor that's out of character with his profession. So I will hush the conspiracy theorist for now, take a candid coach at his word and wait for the head coach to become as accountable as his assistant.

Sanders was ready to quit after Saturday night's 16-15 loss to South Carolina but agreed to stay on as quarterbacks coach for the last four games. He will relinquish his role as play-caller.

And who's his replacement?

If you answered "Phillip Fulmer," you haven't been paying attention. Sure, he was the UT offensive coordinator before he replaced Johnny Majors as head coach. Yes, he knows this offense better than anybody.

But he also knows the folly in taking responsibility for an offense as error-prone as this one. The play-calling will be handled by committee, he said wisely.

So if the plays fail, don't blame the head coach. Just vent your frustration on the new Web site, "firethecommittee.com."