Do you approve of the job Phillip Fulmer is doing as coach of the Tennessee football team?
Leave your comments below and vote in the poll to the left.
© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
UT's new $45 million football…
Vanderbilt 93, Tennessee 79, Feb. 9…
Tennessee 69, South Carolina 57 men's…
Features
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group2012 The E.W. Scripps Co.
More news from our local partners » Privacy Policy | User Agreement | About Our Ads
Comments » 67
silvertr6 writes:
Coach Fulmer has tried real hard, but he does not show the characteristics necessary to chance with the game. His comments about studying the film, trying like heck, and working hard do not accomplish a winning percentage vs Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, LSU, Auburn and other top 10 non conference opponents. It is correct to say that Fulmer has football in a downward spiral at Tennessee. Mike Hamilton needs to respond with a change soon at the top, or be replaced himself.
yeavols#228407 writes:
We all grow and leave our jobs. The average stay at any job is 5 years for anyone. I think Fulmer has done a good job at UT and we all love him. But for God's sake..no one stays forever. I think Fulmer's next phase in life can be an athletic director(maybe) or definately a head coach in the NFL. In the NFL, apparently you don't have total control of players and not a lot of grumbling goes on if you have a 7-5 season because you can have a play off spot. Just an observation.
asand211#361548 writes:
Unfortunately, I think it is time for UT to move on and move forward. The Vols have been in a downward slide for the last seven years and show no signs of turning it around. Good teams and good coaches will lose games but it is time for a change when you are blown out and allow 59 points to be scored on you. That is not a one time thing but has happened several times over the last few years.
VERSE13 writes:
Fulmer plays safe football. We need to take chances to get the ball down field.
jweaver3#395614 writes:
Be careful what you wish for
Who could we get that would be better? and would except the job?
Two very big questions.
GO VOLS!!! WIN OUT
TXVOLSFAN
volsfan327 writes:
How could anybody be satisfied with the inconsistant play over the past years. I have read some of the Fulmer faithful would be happy with a .500 season.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! The world really is coming to an end!!!!!!!!!
PureOrange writes:
It is hard to ask dedicated, decent people to leave their jobs which they love, but sometimes it is best for all concerned to simply step aside.
I have said it before, Phil Fulmer is a very good man. He is a good example to our young people, but he is simply still coaching in the past. The game has passed him by.
We blamed Sanders for the boring offense, but it seems apparent now that he was unable to make the calls he is free to make now at Kentucky. Phil is still playing the game of years ago of playing not to lose.
I wish he would just come to the realization that he could step aside gracefully and keep the respect of all Tennessee fans.
MANVOL writes:
yes nobody would want a job paying 3 million year with a 80 million dollar a year budget. Can fly any where in the country to recruit players. Have a stadium that holds over 105k and has a fan base that would follow them all the way to California for a regular season game. Ya what coach wouls want??? Come on People Knoxville is not beruit, this an awesome place to live, raise a family, and coach a football program rich in tradition. Who you gonna get crowd amaze me?? Change is good a times. It means you are trying to improve yourself. I guess we should have kept buzz.!.!
vol4jesus writes:
My question is how many times did our resident guru and his real'kool-aid' drinkers vote in the poll on the nay side. Just curious....
thevol writes:
CRVol- Yea he's the next Jim Donnan. It's the perfect storm, see my stats. Blah, Blah, Blah
JW- Fire Fulmer, we suck(not much else to add) Blah, Blah, Blah
TouchdownTN- I know UT football, Majors was great. Blah, Blah, Blah.
I saved you guys time, no need to post.
thevol writes:
By the way Jesus, I am a Vol Supporter no matter what. I voted Nay, I just don't female dog and whine all day long.
Pullingguard writes:
I wonder, do all those teams out there who have lost 2 games have a vote taken on what they think about their coach. I doubt it.. But if Vols beat Ga this weekend a bunch of them be supporting Fulmer once again.
BigUn writes:
Is this a trick question? Fulmer's record the last 3 years is almost exactly the same as Ron Zook's was his 3 years at UF. Yet UF, whether you hate them or not, made the change and look where they are now. Won a NC last year and beat us by 39 a few weeks ago. With all that being said, it was awesome to see them lose last night.
scvols writes:
I knew we would lose some games due to our D. DL was not up to par and the DB and Safety are young, so I felt we would be 9-3 or 8-4.
But..... this phooey of the kicking team stinking up the field and giving up points is coaching. The kicking game can break a game open, then why do we not have our best of the field?
Yes, we have had some bad luck, like CAL's 1st TD and Anige breaking his finger. But what about good teams making their on breaks, I just have not seen this coaching staff, out coaching other good coaching staffs.
rickj#215787 writes:
Fulmer plays it way to conservative. Open up the offense. If we don't get this turned around Hamilton will need to go.
onecrazyvol writes:
Why do we need this article? Have we not kicked this dead dog enough? Phil needs to move on.
ozarkvol writes:
I will withhold judgement until Saturday. But he is starting to do things that Johnny Majors did to upset the fans.
The question is will this team improve and maybe even compete for a spot in the SEC Championship game this year. An opportunity has opened up, all we have to do is win out. I think we have that capability. Can we do it?
Ralph_Crampton writes:
Think about this...who could we hire as coach of the Volunteers...if we let Fulmer go? He would have to fit in the community full scale? Not many coaches would take on the job and be able to recruit like Phil.....Maybe a better coach but it might take several years...Vol fans are too impatient for this lenghth of time. t
Southland writes:
how many of you folks that think it is funny or clever to call Fulmer fat are fat? Coach Fulmer has done a good job up until the last few years. The game has changed and we have not. Someone needs to get a huge card that we can all sign and tell Randy Sanders how sorry we are and how mistaken we are. UK ranked #8 and the quarterback he is coaching is doing a fine job.
BigUn writes:
The reason UK is #8 is alot of things, and one is that Randy Sanders is their QB coach and not their Off Coordinator.
Sanders is a great position coach, but not a good coordinator. Cutcliff asked him to stay and be QB's coach here but he didn't want to and I couldn't blame him.
With that being said, Kentucky still has to play every body in the East plus LSU. I don't think they are a doormat, but I have a hard time seeing them beating UGA and UF. Now KY beating a Fulmer coached UT.....they should win.
Ralph_Crampton writes:
Guys who are you going to get to coach the Vols?Think about that for a minute...Who? We will never get an ex-pro coach...are you kidding? We have created a monster (in UT football) very few want to get involved into this meatgrinder.
west_tn_volfan writes:
I think the guy at south florida would be a great choice. Has wins this year over auburn and west virginia.
dowdpat#654244 writes:
bigfan502 get a clue. Tennessee's a meat grinder? 2 coaches since 1977! This isn't Alabama post Gene Stallings. We haven't had coaches resign after 1 spring game and a bad night at a strip club. We have the largest stadium and recruiting budget in the SEC. We are the model of stability for the SEC. This is more of a dream job than not. Please stop selling Tennessee short. Carson-Newman is in Morristown not Knoxville.
hoskinsfive#468391 writes:
Am I the only person in town who knows that we are going to get Gruden? nobody has said anything about it,
hoskinsfive#468391 writes:
John Gruden will be the next coach at UT. Write it down.
Feared_Mustang_Package writes:
Actually, Carson-Newman is in Jefferson City.
hoskinsfive,
You know you can't say things like that without citing references and providing the information, baby. You're better than that.
VOLFANSTKGA writes:
Was this even a necessary poll? 99% of the comments for the last 5 games and I'm sure since 2000 has been to fire Fulmer, the entire coaching staff, the Athletic Director, the cheerleaders, and Johnny Majors AGAIN or not. FIRE FOOLMORE and let's just move on. Oh Yea, Kentucky is 5-0 and 8th in both polls are ya getting worried yet.
inquiry writes:
We don't need polls like this.. silly.. why don't we vote on who has better Vols coverage.. the Knox News Sentinel or the Nashville Tennessean.. that's a good poll now.. unless you're on the UT Athletic board, stay out of hiring/firing decisions, ok?
inquiry writes:
We don't need polls like this.. silly.. why don't we vote on who has better Vols coverage.. the Knox News Sentinel or the Nashville Tennessean.. that's a good poll now.. unless you're on the UT Athletic board, stay out of hiring/firing decisions, ok?
volintexas writes:
Good point inquiry. KNS dares to deal with the obvious once again.
Sheepscape writes:
Once again the "who you gonna git crowd" sells this storied program out. One day either by retirement or being forced out, Fulmer will leave. Should we just fold up the tents and go home when that happens?
Vols fans are not impatient, if anything we have put up with this too long. Other programs would have sent Fulmer packing long ago. Special teams and lack of player development have been killing us since 02, so don't tell me we aren't patient.
Go to South Florida and shoot Jim Leavitt with the money cannon. He's a winner.
Carlitovol writes:
Amen on the patience, sheepscape.. Somebody pass the plate around. I think considering the current state of the program, most fans would be willing to give the program some time to get back to nat'l prominence. I know I would.
And who knows, if we got the right guy, things could look a lot better within a year or two.
Case in point: our buddy Bruce. Granted, it was a perfect fit and he inherited the right players for his style and philosophy. But still, look at what he was able to accomplish in no time with pretty much the EXACT SAME players that Buzz floundered with...
P.S. I like the thought of going after Leavitt. He's a winner.
OldNumber7 writes:
I find it interesting that folks are so uncomfortable to face the inevitable now versus later. Go read "Who Moved My Cheese"...the cheese is gone folks. Also, seems folks think it's a guarantee that Tennessee will fail under a new coach - why is this a concern when the team isn't competitive today?
There is plenty of good young head coaching talent that deserve an opportunity, and will excel when given the resource-backing UT offers. Just look around at the small college programs that are overachieving. Some of them acually do a fantastic job at slamming the door shut on the spread offense. Pro coaches don't typically do well in college - they don't recruit nor do they teach anything at that level. Seems the key elements for the next great coaches are overachievment at their school and consistency with few resources and marginal talent pool.
I'm glad it wasn't up to fans when it came to letting Buzz Peterson go.
rockytop#413695 writes:
I have great respect for Phil Fulmer. As I said a couple of weeks ago, he brought us the only National Championship of my lifetime. However, the downward spiral has been well documented. I manage sales people and the one thing I always say is, "What have you done for me lately?" If I have a salesman that had a great few years 10 years ago, I will definitely cut him some slack when his sales figures fall. If the trend continues I will coach him up and try to get him to make the necessary changes to turn things around. If this doesn't happen then I usually set a goal for his production in the next few months and make it clear that if he doesn't meet those expectations, then he will have to move on. This is hard to do because usually I really like the person, or I wouldn't have hired him. College football is a business and Hamilton needs to sit down with Fulmer and say here is what I expect for the rest of this season..... and if not then we'll have to find you something else to do. The expectation should be to win out, or only lose one more of the remaining games.
slojim writes:
Guys,
I am curious, what coaches are potential candidates to replace Fulmer? For the record, I like Fulmer and think we should stay with him...I hate Kool Aid, so take it easy on me will ya!
Other coaches?
I have heard Leavit (USF), Rodriguez (WVU), Gruden (TB Bucs), Boise St coach (have no idea what his name is) and who else?
I have never seen an NFL coach do well in college, except the guy out in Southern Cal....am I missing someone else?
Lastly, at least we are not as bad as Notre Dame...Holy phooey, they are the one team in America who tackle worse than we do. But now that I think about it, they do run the ball better than we do...
phooey, this season sucks!
Jim Crews
Colliervol writes:
Good analogy for our situation rocketvol. That's a great book and our "cheese" has truly moved.
As far as the poll goes, there should have been a category of "Surely You Must Be Joking--Why do I even have to answer the question?"
I ask the same question over and over. Convince me that John Gruden or any pro coach will recruit and I might buy it. That's all I ask. From everything I've seen, I think Jim Leavitt would be a great pick.
matrosscbc writes:
We should all let the season play out and then decide. Tennessee got beat by two teams that are simply better than them.
At least we didn't lose to Florida State with Satan as our vew coach!
Go Vols...hang 55 on the dogs again!!
matrosscbc writes:
BTW..there are no candidates for the job anyway...its just a bunch of Fans running at the mouth...Tedford isn't goin anywhere...and do you really want WVU coach....didn't they just lose to South Florida ...(that is the logic that tends to show up on these boards)
Fulmer needs a special teams coach and a kick in the ass....hopefully he responds.
Sheepscape writes:
matross why don't you compare how much Cal and Florida were favored by, then look at how badly they did actually beat us before hanging your hat on losing to Cal and Florida.
Why hasn't Fulmer hired a special teams coach? Do we really need a TE coach in lieu of that? Hopefully Fulmer will respond? Have you heard his stubborn press interviews?
SoLoBo writes:
If Fulmer is replaced, I just hope it's not with another Alum (unless it's Peyton). Too hard to get rid of them (see Majors, Johnny profile).
volintexas writes:
Interesting milestones that Fulmer has a reasonably good shot at this year:
1) Potential first loss to Kentucky in 23 years. Randy Sanders has to be loving this.
2)Potential consecutive home losses to Vanderbilt for the first time since before WWII (1935 and 1937).
3)Potential consecutive home losses to South Carolina for the first time ever, which would be interesting given that two years ago was our first home loss to South Carolina ever.
It is one thing to talk about our ineptitude vs. Florida or Mark Richt at home, but Whoa Nellie, when these games become question marks, it is "time for them to go". Hopefully, this one will be handled better than the last two (by all parties), and the UT family has learned its lessons from the past.
volunteerTY23 writes:
it's absolutely ridiculous to have polls like this....GOVOLSxtra........BS none of the columnists never have anything positive to say, and in turn kiss fla butt, so what would you expect from govols but a site that can just belittle a man who has poored his heart into this university, when he does turn this season around and win the sec east there will still be adams and those loosers writing about the negative.. hey let's have poll, does govolsxtra have any good columnist(besides drew edwards only decent one) my answer is no.......
kaplan#211944 writes:
Drew is the beat writer for the Vols. He doesn't write commentary. A columnist (Adams, sometimes Strange) does that. Sorry we're not cheerleaders.
volunteerTY23 writes:
it's not about being cheerleaders, but my gosh why can't they write about how we are actually playing more freshman, and how lamarcus finally has gotten his legs and could be the x factor in the ga game, but no it's freaking ga week and we have poll like this......gimme a break.....they all need to move to fla and write for the sun........and yes drew does have columns on here.....see dorian davis article........and you say "WERE" NOT CHEERLEADERS......i wold love to know who you are...
matrosscbc writes:
Go Vols!! Adams SUX!!...I'm tired of listening to him too!!
kaplan#211944 writes:
A column is opinion. Davis is a news story. There's no opinion there. I have identified myself before. Check football and click on more and you will find stories from last week. We'll have more today and plenty the rest of the week.
Phil Kaplan
Deputy sports editor
News Sentinel
kaplan@knews.com
volunteerTY23 writes:
well kaplan you think that it's the right thing to do is post a poll about the head coach when the football team is needing confidence, I don't and I think it's not only my opionion that half of the columnists on here are alway's writing in a negative magnitude, we as fan's need confidence and we look to writers, reporters, journalists for that when the team is struggling, and i'm sure that some of the guy's and coaching staff read this also.......but you all just put a dark cloud over the program at all times.....adams needs a column called I have a man crush on tim tbow....that's how bad it is.
invisiblekid writes:
Nice posts RocketVol and VolinTexas.
volcop writes:
Phil Fulmer stays. He is orange thru and thru. Unless he has two losing seasons back to back he should stay.
GoVol writes:
I'd trust hamilton to find the right guy, I just hope we have that opportunity. Phil needs to take one for the team and leave, while the choice is still somewhat his.
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.