TENNESSEE
- Coach: Phillip Fulmer
- Record: 131-41 (15 years)
- Last year: 9-4
- Starters returning: 6 defense; 7 offense.
- Outlook: The Vols return experience nearly everywhere on offense except at wide receiver. Tennessee must find some playmakers there — and at defensive tackle — in order to be in the SEC hunt come November.
SEC Preview: Media Days
Photo by Rob Carr, Associated Press
Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer talks to the media assembled Friday at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala.
Related audio
HOOVER, Ala. — It’s old news that Tennessee hasn’t won an SEC championship since 1998.
It’s no secret, either, that Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer and women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt have long been friends.
But women’s basketball talk at SEC Media Days? That’s something new.
On the final day of the league’s annual preseason gathering at the Wynfrey Hotel just outside Birmingham, Fulmer talked about Pat Summitt and Candace Parker.
It’s all in the name of breaking a championship drought, which the Lady Vols did last April, winning their first NCAA title since 1998.
“We were talking about her nine-year stretch there as to why she thought she hadn’t won a championship,” Fulmer said Friday. “She said it’s pretty simple. It’s Candace Parker.”
“You have to have a Candace Parker-type player in your program to be able to do that.”
Fulmer says senior quarterback Erik Ainge, named the media’s second-team All-SEC quarterback Friday, has the ability to be an impact player in the mold of Parker.
Or, in football parlance, a Peyton Manning or Tee Martin.
“I think Erik Ainge can be that kind of football player that our team rallies around, that takes the bull by the horns and makes the plays that help you win a championship,” Fulmer said.
After finishing 9-4 last season, the Vols took a big step away from a 5-6 debacle in 2005.
But a 2-3 finish down the stretch, including a 20-10 loss to Penn State in the Outback Bowl left fans a little less optimistic than they were following a 7-1 start.
“We laid an egg in that game (the Outback Bowl),” Fulmer said. “I think we were the better team. If we had had 10 wins, we would have felt pretty happy about a ‘turnaround season.’
“Somebody asked me if there’s a magic number. Yeah, win ’em all. That’s the magic number to make everybody happy in Knoxville, or the coach happy.”
While 2006 might have fallen short of a “turnaround season,” the Vols still had a turnaround quarterback.
Ainge’s improvement last season has been well documented.
Yet there’s another step to take.
In a loss to Florida last season, the Vols couldn’t get into field-goal range to tie the game on its final possession.
Against LSU, the defense faded down the stretch.
Against Penn State, turnovers were key.
For that championship drought to end for the Vols, Fulmer says his key players must make the breaks go Tennessee’s way.
And although he concedes Parker is much better on the court, Ainge knows she’s a pretty good role model for the football field, too.
“I understand the analogy; I know what he’s saying,” Ainge said. “You need your big-time players to step up and play big-time roles. Your best players need to play the best in the best situations against the other best teams in the best conference.”
In their ninth season since their last national championship, the Lady Vols broke through again in April thanks to Parker.
Fulmer has been adamant about winning another championship since UT’s season ended in January.
Fulmer, who enters his 16th season as the SEC’s longest tenured head coach, downplayed the pressure that comes with an eight-year championship drought of his own.
“I’m not silly,” Fulmer said. “I know that our expectations are high because we created those. I also know I just got a contract extension. Our athletic director gave my coordinators three-year contracts, assistants two-year contracts.
“Nobody — you or the fans — nobody wants to win a championship more than I do. Nobody.”
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
UT's new $45 million football…
Images from Larry Murphy's book on…
Tennessee 69, South Carolina 57 men's…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 23
scvols writes:
You know in 98 we had players that made plays. Last year against FL we had players that did not make plays at the end of the game on both the defense and offense side. Our DL, OL, WR, and DB has to make a big time improvement and ,yes, there is a little luck needed also.
andy112382#209793 writes:
I must say I am glad to see Fulmer placing so much emphasis on the fact he wants a championship more than anybody, because with the comments some people throw around here or around Knoxville or the nation, so many people seem to convince themselves that Fulmer is there to merely collect a paycheck and watch a little football while forgetting that this man has dedicated an awfully large chunk of his life to running the program, something I bet 99% of us on here would get burned out or collapse to the pressure after a few months or a year with as much that comes with the job.
volfaninchattanooga writes:
Nice post by the bama fan. Lot's of class shown there. Man, I'm glad I'm a VOL. How many times has Alabama been on probation? Go Vols!
vinnievol writes:
It's pretty funny when the only trash talk an opposing fan can muster are Fulmer fat jokes. I guess when you get owned 10 out of the last 12 seasons you kind of run out of anything meaningful to say.
Bama fans are truly legends in their own minds. Not even half of their 12 "Nat'l Championships" are recognized by the rest of the college football world. For intance, they claim they won the NC in 1941 - The AP ranked Alabama 20th in the nation at the end of that year with 14 teams with better records in the top 20. Alabama finished 3rd in the SEC that year. Mississippi State won the SEC title..yet Bama claims a National title! Tusk, most of your NC's are retroactively awarded jokes.. you must be so proud.
yeavols#228407 writes:
It is apparent that the Bama fan is feeling the pain of a losing program in the last 10 years. The team that took years to find a coach and lost as many games to the VULS. Now mind you, this is the same dunderhead that comes in frequently to make his usual post about hotdogs, obesity, and inbreeding. Pretty.
BuckFama writes:
Listening to a bama fan is like talking to your granddad ... all you hear about are the good ol' days.
And isn't it about time for the cheaters in alabama (I will not capitalize any name associated with those pukes) to be put on probation? They've been penalized more times than they won their imaginary national championships. They ought to change their slogan to "Payroll tide"! Or perhaps "Parole the tide".
In any regard, sadly, KingsportVol is correct. This site is no longer any good. I'd rather pay and have it like it used to be. That way the genetic defectives down south of us wouldn't be able to afford it.
waterskier3#226480 writes:
I agree about this site being bad... this is the only article from our coach on our home site.... we should have several articles about the vols.. now we're not paying for it no coverage... the tennessean has better generic coverage the HT paper??????? I'm stuck in texas and need all the vols news I can get... the beg 12 suxs..... all you hear here is the OK fans talk... kinda like the bama fans lots of BS NC and lots of cheaters....
dgarland1#214014 writes:
Bama math. 12 National Championships, har har har. In the modern era Bama is an also ran. 12 NCs, what he doesn't tell you is that eight of them were awarded by the Tuscaloser Times. haw haw. You got to love bama fans. They prove Darwin right every time.
agentorange writes:
everybody mark fear the tusk for removal a maybe kns will "ban" him from the site.
CrankE writes:
I didn't think that anyone in alabama could count to 12. Fulmer has turned this series around losing only three times since 1992. They can pour all the venom on Fulmer that they like. It just seals it for me that he's the right guy.
vol4jesus writes:
Sticks and stones may break my bones ,but words will never hurt me/my coach!!!! Aretha Franklin had a song...R...E...S...P...E...C...T. tHE tUSK forgot what momma was supposed to teach him about respecting your elders. If trash talk is all he has that means it is lacking substance and is very shallow so don't dive in and break your neck. GO VOLS!!!
vinnievol writes:
classic 9 year hold rhetoric there, thanks for that Tusk. Now, keep on dreamin' bout them "glory days" of Bama football, cuz that's all you got.
vol4jesus writes:
One delightful question for fear the tusk....Which school in recent NCAA history for the SEC has had more embarassing coaching changes?.......Lets see the PRICE is right....suppose it was DUBOSE....SHULA got the hula treatment and the newest...SABAN has already figured out how to see high school athletes illegally. Now ladies and gentlemen that is certainly a heritage to be proud of. Oh by the way don't forget the inegrity instilled(not installed) in Bama players to twist knees(ala Tony Robinson) while players were in the pile to hurt them and get them out of the game. You know even the playing field so to speak. And I'll forget the Albert Means Memphis mess ala booster madness. Oh well us poor Vols.
orangeblood writes:
hey fearthetusk.....GET IT INTO YOUR HEAD! PAUL "BEAR" BRYANT IS DEAD!!!! Welcome to reality my friend. Do you realize that the reason you guys suck year-in and year-out is because you put so much emphasis on the fact that a man rightfully sold you out for cheating a.k.a breaking the rules...oh, and how are tennesseeans imbreds? If im not mistaken it is alabama made fun of for that in all the jokes, not tennessee. Alabama slogan: ALABAMA-30 MILLION PEOPLE...3 LAST NAMES. Welcome to reality sucka. Oh yeah, good luck winning ten games this season.
-wht
orangeblood writes:
oh yeah, by the way. You are the biggest retard I have ever seen on a message forum. How are you gonna talk about stupid tennesseans and not know how to spell or use sentence structure or subject-verb agreement? I guess we all know where you went to school: ABALAMA. Oh no!!! Did I just misspell a word? It seems that your pathetic intellegence rubs off.
cgbtn writes:
As long as you people respond to the garbage from alabama, he will continue to try to irritate you. The first thing which appears in a post is the poster's name. When you see his name, skip to the next post and ignore him.
bgreybass#247717 writes:
The Bamma post,Fear The Tusk is not representative of the Bama fans living in north Alabama. It is very possible that the 3rd week in october may not be as enjoyable for the Fear The Tusk bama fan as the hype may seem at this point in the season. Lots of games to play before the 3rd week in Oct.
vol4jesus writes:
cgbtn he doesn't irritate me(honey where are my blood pressure pills?) at all. I realize his intended purpose is too make himself happy at the expense of fans in BIG ORANGE COUNTRY. I just gave him a brief history lesson so that his perspective could be enlightened. No hate ...no enemy. Just a fan who loves his beloved tide. We are rivals and play mind games throughout the year...sometimes with respect...more often than not we don't sad to say. Nonetheless we pull for the young men in Orange and White...so GO VOLS!!!
Volfan1 writes:
Hey everyone....answer a fool in his folly and you become like him. Ignore the Payroll Tide poster FeartheTusk and everyone just click "Suggest removal" after his posts. Maybe the KNS will police the posts and remove his slanderous, inane, and asinine posts. (I used those big words so he might think I am complimenting him. HA!)
BuckFama writes:
He's gone.
vol4jesus writes:
LOVE AMERICAN STYLE!!! Great tv show wasn't it......yawn
orangebloodgmc writes:
Did ya ever stop and think, the LSU Tigers, they have an actual tiger mascot. But Bama, for all their big elephant tusk talk, they never produce any elephant. What do they bring to the field, maybe a possum in a wash tub?
vol4jesus writes:
cr vol you love the vols(?) washtub fun.....agitate the base/posters. give it a rest please. Comparing having a player that can lead like Candace did. Hope Ainge is up to it. GO VOLS!!! :):)
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.