Earl Bennett, the star wide receiver from Vanderbilt, was named College Football Player of the Year and Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee was selected College Football Coach of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association.
Bennett and Fulmer were selected by a vote of TSWA members.
Bennett, a junior, became the Southeastern Conference’s all-time leading receiver with 236 career receptions. He finished the season with 75 receptions for 830 yards and five touchdowns despite facing double team and special coverage packages by opposing teams. He was named First Team All-SEC by both the coaches and the Associated Press.
Bennett has decided to forgo his senior and enter the NFL draft in April.
Fulmer guided the Vols to a 10-4 record and the SEC Championship Game for the fifth time in 11 years. The Eastern Division champions found the road to the title game a challenging journey as three of their last four conference wins either were achieved in overtime (South Carolina and Kentucky) or boiled down to a final field goal try deciding the outcome (Vanderbilt).
The Vols lost to LSU 21-14 in the SEC title game. UT defeated Wisconsin 21-17 in the Outback Bowl.
Bennett and Fulmer will be honored during the annual TSWA convention in July.
Vanderbilt 93, Tennessee 79, Feb. 9…
Tennessee 69, South Carolina 57 men's…
Vanderbilt 65, Tennessee 47, Jan. 24…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 27
GreerVol22 writes:
funny ain't it? other writers think more of our coach that our own Knoxville paper does.
My bad, you have to be a writer to be a member. That leaves Adams out.
auttat writes:
In the eyes of all TN Sportwriters, Fulmer was the NATIONAL coach of the year? I put a question mark so that someone will confirm that the TSWA included all of CFB in their voting.
This is dang near hilarious!!
ggriggs939#223122 writes:
This confirms the bias of the sentinel toward Phillip and the University. Too bad the TSWA doesn't have a procedure to address that issue and too bad Hamilton doesn't have the balls to limit the access of the kns employees to the athletes at the university.
bigbluevol writes:
auttat, if I'm correct, I think that they just pick the best coach and player at schools in the state.
jimr07 writes:
but, auttat is so full of hate for fulmer that he overlooks the fact that other writers consider him to be a good coach. Tennessee was picked to come in fourth in the eastern division but instead won.
that, to me, makes a good coach.
jimr07 writes:
first, auttat, he was not named national coach of the year. tennessee coach of the year. get out run spot run book and learn to read again. you, sir, are depriving a village somewhere in the world of having its own idiot.
auttat writes:
Sorry jimr07, I have done nothing but support Fulmer for the 3 years I have been reading and posting on this site.
I said it was hilarious because it seems to be a total slap in the face of Adams' article. I'm sorry I did not clarify.
Thanks bigbluevol. That's what I was thinking, too, but wanted confirmation
jimr07 writes:
i am sure glad you corrected that and i withdraw my idiot comment. that should go to john adams.
accpet my apology please
volfan#207874 writes:
Hey Adams...you want tomato catsup to go with the crow that you have so overwhelmingly earned? A further set of question for John...how many games of football have you particitpated in? And just how many players have you personally coached in organized football? C'mon John, get a life and get out of town before you are tarred and feathered, and rode out of town on a rail. You have definitely outstayed your welcome in Vol land. A pipsqueak reporter takes it upon HIMSELF to correct any and all problems regarding player personell at UT? What are your credentials for such a task? Your items of biased reporting/editorializing smacks of yellow journalism. Where oh where are the professional reporters/editors of yesteryear? Oh, by the way John, no need to give KNS a two week notice...just get out of town at the earliest!
auttat writes:
Once again, I am so sorry jimr07. I should have known that Earl Bennett would not have been the NATIONAL player of the year, but in my defense, I was blinded by the fact that Fulmer was coach of the year. I did not read the article correctly.
I will go back and hide under my rock. SHEEEEZ!
jimr07 writes:
fritter, you, too are an idiot. you overlooked the fact that we were picked to come in fourth in the east division. so winning it doesn't count in your book.
i have asked this many times before and never get an answer from any of you fulmer haters. who would like to see there as head coach? what kind of record would be satisfying to you?
If you think we are going to win the championship every year to make you happy, then i have ocean front property in arizona for sale. cheap. just like your comments
auttat writes:
Easy General, oletdtn is starting to show again in your posts. The Darkside seems to await you!!
thesavageorange writes:
Is this a conference award or just the state of Tennessee?
volfan#207874 writes:
Savageorange
it is the Tennessee Sports Writers Association. I am assuming that most, if not all, of the major newspapers in TN have representatives who do the actual voting. Wonder just who John Adams voted for? I think that I would give serious consideration to prohibiting any and all sportswriters from KNS from participating in any interviews, locker room access, etc. until this irresponsible.... (you fill in your image of this sorry excuse for a sports editor.) You may not be able to beat them with ink, since they buy theirs by the barrel, but you can control to some degree what they have access to.
AlpharettaVol writes:
General: What is a "major competitor?" Seems like many folks on this site just consider major competitors schools that we lose to in a particular year. For instance, what about Georgia? I hear lots of you folks singing the praises of Richt on a regular basis. I believe we have beaten them 3 out of the past 4 times we played.
cjraney writes:
Gen'l-
After losing "market share" to your big competitors, maybe you should have looked for ways to improve OVERALL performance instead of hanging head after tough setbacks. Sometimes it pays to look at the entire picture/season, not just focus on one or two things/games.
I say this absolutely filled with disgust with the way we played in those embarassing losses. Glad we didn't throw the whole season away.
Go Vols!
russ writes:
I guess Fulmer did went the state this past year.
russ writes:
Correction "win"
rrvolfan#230816 writes:
Fire John Adams Online Petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fi...
westcoastvol writes:
Attaboy, Phil!
I'm sure you barely squeaked this one out, but who cares? You really showed the coaches at Austin-Peay, UT-Martin, et cetera how it's done!
John Adams ROCKS!
LargeOrange writes:
Adams is a hack and a total jerk. He not only went over the top on his article but he also is on some kind of publicity tour about it. He was in Birmingham on the radio with Paul Finebaum on Tuesday and some one here in Atlanta today told me they heard him giving an interview to one of the big sports talk stations here in Atlanta yesterday. If you haven't done it yet you need to listen to this jerk on the Finebaum show. I think UT controls who get press credentials, I think John Adams should have to buy a ticket and sit in the stands from now on. I would love to look over and see this a-hole sitting in my section this fall.
http://www.finebaum.com/media/archive...
THANKYOU4GETTINGRIDOFTHENOTSOSLIMONE writes:
LargeOrange
&
CPF
Forever
orvol writes:
Let's be real about Adams, like Geraldo Rivera, he can say whatever's on his mind. The reality is that he's a mediocre writer at best, who generally only evokes the response, "There's 5 minutes of my life that'll I'll never get back" after someone reads one of his articles. This story has given him more publicity than he's had in years!
rockyknox writes:
LargeOrange, thanks for the link to the Finebaum show. Isn't it something that Adams runs to Alabama to hide out with the enemy? Finebaum ripped the UT coaching staff when he wrote for the Daily Beacon in the 70's. He ripped Bill Battle and even ripped Coach Mears for the problems he had with one star athlete. Finebaum mentions that Adams has been writing for the KNS for over 20 years. Way way way too long. The small man must go!!!!!!!!
rockyknox writes:
The business leaders of Knoxville need to send a message to the KNS. A few weeks without advertisments thanks to John "Little Man" Adams should get their point across.
philfan writes:
I did not know Fulmer had won the SEC Eastern Division 5 times out of 11 years. I just wish he could win more SEC championships, but these will come with time. I have no problem with Fulmer winning this award, even though it is limited to the State of Tennessee. I also had no problem with Croom winning the SEC coach of the year, with a 7 and 5 record. It is appropriate to award the coaches who have shown the most improvement, instead of just the coaches who have won the most games or the most championship trophies. As much as I admired Cutcliffe, I have a feeling I will look forward to the anything goes philosophy of our new Offensive Coordinator, Dave Clawson.
youguysarefunny writes:
First of all, the award was for Tennessee College Coach of the Year. No state of Tennessee coach, other than Ken Sparks, had a better record than Fulmer. It's obviously unlikely that sportwriters the western part of the state would vote for a coach at Carson-Newman, because they're unlikely to have followed the Eagles' football program.
As far as a slap in John Adams face, I don't think so. In fact, I'm sure the award was voted on well before his column was even published and possibly before this last rash of discipline incidents.
Also, keep in mind, when you're dealing with awards like this, many of the Tennessee sportswriters don't even cover college athletics - it's mostly guys who cover prep sports. They're very likely unfamiliar with the all the state's coaches other than Fulmer, Bobby Johnson and maybe Tommy West. Winning this award when 10-4 is the second-best record in the state isn't exactly like winning the Nobel Prize.
Lastly, some guy said there should be a nationwide search for the best sports journalists to replace the KNS staff. That's ludicrious. The same people that are so upset with Adams would try and run that writer out on a rail, too. Do you think the "best sports journalists" would bite their tongues about all these arrests and discipline issues and continue praising our "workin' like heck" to correct the problems?
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