Phillip Fulmer - Former Tennessee football coach

Former Tennessee offensive lineman Phillip Fulmer rose through the ranks of the Tennessee coaching staff, making his biggest impact as an offensive line coach and then as offensive coordinator before serving as interim football coach at the start of the 1992 season while then-head coach Johnny Majors recovered from heart surgery.

Near the end of the 1992 season Johnny Majors announced his resignation, and Phillip Fulmer became full-time head coach for the Hall of Fame Bowl (now Outback Bowl) against Boston College in Tampa Bay, Fla., that January, a 38-23 win for the Vols.

Phillip Fulmer's first full season as head coach in 1993 saw the Vols go 9-2-1, although the Alabama game, a 17-17 tie, would later be forfeited to Tennessee. In fact, six of coach Phillip Fulmer's first seven teams won at least nine games, highlighted by the 1998 consensus national championship team that finished 13-0, as well as an 11-1 team in 1995 that finished second in the coaches poll. This run of Phillip Fulmer's tenure also featured such Vol luminaries as Peyton Manning, Heath Shuler, James "Little Man" Stewart, Peerless Price, Charlie Garner, Jay Graham, Leonard Little, Jamal Lewis, Deon Grant, Al Wilson and several others such as these who also were drafted in the first few rounds of the NFL Draft.

Phillip Fulmer led Tennessee to the 2001 SEC Championship Game following the Vols' first win in Gainesville in 30 years, but UT surrendered a second-half lead to LSU and with it a shot at another BCS title berth. Despite that, UT finished 2001 with a 45-17 demolishing of Michigan.

Tennessee and Phillip Fulmer would again have 10-win seasons in 2003 and 2004, when a 38-7 blowout of Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl led the Vols to a No. 3 preseason ranking in 2005. Though no one could have known it at the time, it would be the highest Tennessee would climb in at least six seasons and counting as of 2011, as the Vols slid to an unexpected 5-6 record after starting the year with national championship aspirations. Phillip Fulmer brought back former offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe and the Vols rebounded to go 9-4 and 10-4 while he was back in Knoxville.

Once David Cutcliffe left to take the head job at Duke before the 2008 season, Phillip Fulmer hired former Richmond head coach Dave Clawson to take the helm of the Tennessee offense. It would prove a fateful decision, as the Vols sank to a 5-7 season, their most losses since 1977. Worse still, UT scored 24 points in a season-opening loss to a woeful UCLA team, and only averaged nine points per game in the other six losses. Finally, the Monday following a 27-6 loss at South Carolina on Nov. 1, 2008, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton fired Phillip Fulmer.

Phillip Fulmer's final record at Tennessee was 152-52-1, a .741 winning percentage. Phillip Fulmer's teams played in five SEC Championship Games in his 15 seasons as coach, as well as the 1998 National Championship.

• Former Tennessee teammates, coaches keeping Harry Galbreath's memory alive Published 6/15/2013 at 6:06 p.m. 3 comments

  Former Tennessee football coaches and players gathered at Neyland Stadium on Friday night to talk, laugh and fellowship — and to remember one of their own who died too young.

• Mike Strange: Phillip Fulmer: SEC dominance began before seven-year title run Updated 4/26/2013 at 11:57 p.m. 25 comments

  On Nov. 29, 2008, when Phillip Fulmer coached his last football game at Tennessee, the SEC had won two consecutive national championships.

• Former UT football player Ovince St. Preux to make UFC debut Published 4/23/2013 at 9:07 p.m. 4 comments

  Ovince St. Preux’s proved his point in August. The former Tennessee linebacker-turned-mixed martial arts fighter claims SEC football and MMA share one common thread.

• Texas coach Mack Brown honored by Knoxville Quarterback Club Published 4/20/2013 at 7:31 p.m. 0 comments

  Texas football coach and Cookeville native Mack Brown didn’t go so far as to hum “Rocky Top,” but he was singing plenty of praises for former Tennessee coaches Gen. Robert Neyland, Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer.

• Phillip Fulmer helps restart football at East Tennessee State Updated 4/2/2013 at 8:37 p.m. 109 comments

  JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer is returning to college football to help revive the program at East Tennessee State.

• ETSU covets Phillip Fulmer Published 3/12/2013 at 11:34 p.m. 67 comments

  JOHNSON CITY — If East Tennessee State University has it their way, Phillip Fulmer would be the school’s new football coach.

• Mike Strange: Is routing Kentucky proof the Vols are ready to surge? Published 2/16/2013 at 8:01 p.m. 44 comments

  It might surprise you to hear Jarnell Stokes' favorite moment of Tennessee's out-of-the-blue bashing of the Big Blue on Saturday.

• A road map for getting back: Study shows Vols' fall from glory years Published 2/2/2013 at 9:32 p.m. 55 comments

  Nearly 20 years ago, Phillip Fulmer was putting the finishing touches on the first class that he had built from start to finish as football coach at Tennessee. The group of players he signed in February 1994, headlined by quarterback ...

• A recruiting map for Vols 1994-2012: State By State Published 2/2/2013 at 9:30 p.m. 0 comments

  State by State

• A recruiting map for Vols 1994-2012: Class by Class Published 2/2/2013 at 9:30 p.m. 1 comment

  Class by Class

• Fulmer says he'd be 'willing to help' ETSU Published 1/26/2013 at 5:08 p.m. 39 comments

  Although he still looks younger than he did during his final season coaching at Tennessee in 2008, youth twinkles in Phillip Fulmer’s eyes when he discusses a potential return to the sideline.

• Tennessee, Butch Jones plan post-Signing Day celebrations across the state Published 1/18/2013 at 7:00 p.m. 37 comments

  Butch Jones is bringing back Tennessee's traditional post-National Signing Day statewide celebrations.

• Phillip Fulmer feels good about new Vols coach Published 1/5/2013 at 8:36 a.m. 80 comments

  Tennessee’s new football coach made a good first impression of one of its former coaches.

• Phillip Fulmer to be inducted into Chick-fil-A Hall of Fame Published 12/30/2012 at 6:28 p.m. 50 comments

  Former Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer will add another Hall of Fame to his resume today.

• Mike Strange: Butch Jones dreamed of a job like Tennessee Published 12/7/2012 at 10:16 p.m. 93 comments

  He grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan, the son of a small-town police chief. He didn't venture far away to play college football at Ferris State. Then he decided to pursue a career in coaching.

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