Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton admits there have been times he and football coach Phillip Fulmer haven't always been on the same page with regards to discipline issues.

There have been times when he felt Fulmer was too harsh. There have been a "couple of times," he felt Fulmer was too lenient.

This weekend isn't one of those times.

When Fulmer on Monday suspended sophomore tailback Arian Foster (for one half this Saturday at Arkansas), reserve fullback David Holbert (for the entire Arkansas game) and reserve safety Antonio Wardlow (for Arkansas and Vanderbilt), Hamilton agreed with the disciplinary actions.

"Based on what Phillip knew and what he relayed to me, I agreed with his discipline," Hamilton said Wednesday. "If I come upon facts that tell me we should be doing something different, then we'll adjust.

"But I haven't found that at this point. I've read the police reports and I've talked to the police."

Foster, Holbert and Wardlow each was arrested after a Sunday morning altercation at GoodFellas Sports Bar and Grill.

Each was charged with misdemeanors of disorderly conduct and underage consumption of alcohol. Wardlow also received a charge of public intoxication.

"I had Phillip re-interview the kids, and based on what I've been told, the discipline is appropriate," Hamilton said. "I understand some may feel like the discipline is related to someone's position in the starting rotation, but quite frankly that can't enter in the decision.

"We have to be fair to the facts as we know them and the student-athletes as we know them."

Like Fulmer, Hamilton will be the first to tell you he dreads early morning phone calls regarding situations like this past weekend.

He also understands, like it or not, it's not uncommon.

Hamilton subscribes to a clip service that updates him daily on issues involving college athletics.

"I don't mean to belittle this, but there are things like this happening everyday," he said. "It's shocking to be working in athletics and see those kinds of things.

"It's disturbing, but having things like this are a regular occurrence at different universities in college athletics.

"We just can't bury our heads in the sand to it. It's more prevalent than we might want to admit. It's society today."

Hamilton also makes it clear he understands athletes at a high-profile university naturally come under more scrutiny.

"Our guys are held to a higher standard, as they should be," he said. "Part of their educational process is they need to learn. They need to learn what it means to mature and to accept responsibility."

Making everyone happy isn't a concern, or even a reasonably realistic goal in Hamilton's mind.

"There are those who would prefer if we have any incident, we dismiss a kid from the team, and not let our kids go out at all on Saturday nights," he said. "That's just not a realistic approach.

"You have to let kids learn how to grow up. In that process, you have to monitor them in hopes they're managing themselves correctly and they don't do something embarrassing to the institution.

"In this situation, they did."