Pennington: Seeing the Fulmer situation from all sides

The heat is ratcheting up in East Tennessee and I'm not talking about the seat in Phillip Fulmer's office. I'm talking about the tempers of the pro-coach and pro-change crowds.

Whether the University of Tennessee decides to make a coaching change at the end of this season or not, the wait to find out what IS going to happen will be brutal for everyone concerned.

Which is why I think it's important to try to keep this whole situation in perspective. Sports anchors and writers across America are talking about Fulmer's job security. Battle lines have been drawn locally.

But understanding what "the other guy" is thinking might help to at least calm some of the arguments.

Put yourself in the shoes of Phillip Fulmer.

You've won 150 games and are within striking distance of Robert Neyland's all-time school win mark. You've won a national championship and two SEC titles. You've reached the league championship game three other times, including last year.

You know that you know how to win football games. You've done it for years. You've just hit a little snag. You've had some bad bounces go against you.

You've been loyal to the university and you feel you deserve a chance to turn things around. Look at what Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are doing this year.

You've got a core group of assistant coaches who've been loyal to you as well. You know that their tails are on the firing line, right alongside yours.

And it's not easy for anyone in any business to ever say, "I don't think I can do this anymore." Competitors don't think that way.

Put yourself in the shoes of Mike Hamilton.

You're in a lose-lose situation. You can dismiss, or force the resignation, of someone that is well liked by a large chunk of Tennessee football fans. Including some of the biggest boosters to your program.

Or you can keep your head coach … only to risk alienating an even bigger chunk of the fan base. Can you afford to ignore the fact that Tennessee fans all around Neyland Stadium sold their tickets to Alabama fans last week?

Can you afford, in this economy, to allow your business (which is what the UT Athletic Department is), to potentially lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, ticket sales and concession sales in the coming year?

As the Tennessee Titans roll to 7-0 and your own team struggles, can you risk your strong mid-state fan base giving up on your team, staying in Nashville, and saving some hotel/gasoline cash to watch "a winner?"

And, though he would never admit it, there's an added worry if you're Hamilton. If you keep your head coach, you won't be the guy on the chopping block if things get worse. Fulmer is your buffer.

But if you dismiss him or ask for his resignation, you'd better hire the right guy as a replacement. Hamilton worked alongside Steve Pederson at Tennessee. Pederson went on to become Nebraska's AD, where he fired Frank Solich in an attempt to fend off a drop to mediocrity. Then he hired Bill Callahan who was a failure. Before Callahan was fired, Pederson was fired.

The same thing could happen to you.

Perhaps you could keep your coach and just force him to make staff changes. But what top assistant would join a staff that could possibly be out of work after another bad season next year.

Put yourself in a pro-Fulmer fan's shoes.

Your coach has won about 75 percent of his games. He's been a Tennessee guy for 30 years. In January of 1999 he brought you one of the best nights of your life.

He's won the right way, with no major NCAA violations occurring during his watch.

Besides, the SEC is simply tougher now. If Fulmer is let go, what guarantee is there that another coach can come in and win 10 or 11 games a year in this league?

Put yourself in a pro-change fan's shoes.

Tennessee is losing ground to Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Great recruiting classes (on paper) aren't leading to great on-field results.

Rock-solid stats show that UT is losing more often … by bigger margins … and at home. The Vols are 30-20 in their last 50 games. This is the third time in seven years that UT has lost five or more games in a season.

And for every Frank Solich or Mike Dubose mistake that's been made in coaching searches, there are Jim Tressel and Bob Stoops success stories, too.

Finally, what guarantees are there that the current coaching staff can turn things around if they're given more time?

Chances are you've already staked out your position on Tennessee's coaching situation. But it never hurts to try to understand what "the other guy" is thinking.

You may disagree with "the other guy's" argument, but both sides have legitimate points to make.

This isn't an easy time at Tennessee ... for Fulmer, for Hamilton or for the fans.

John Pennington hosts the Hall's Salvage Sports Source on Sunday at 11 a.m. on WATE.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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