Get Fulmer Back.com

(Update: WATE in Knoxville is reporting that Mike Hamilton has said Phillip Fulmer "will not return to take the helm" of the Tennessee program.)

The Sporting News is reporting that Tennessee's board of trustees has contacted Phillip Fulmer about being the new athletic director, or maybe even coach. There have not been any reports that Hamilton has talked to Fulmer, so this probably bodes poorly for Hamilton. There are also reports, however, that no trustee has talked to Fulmer in an official capacity.

This comes after rumors that Muschamp and Gruden have turned down the coaching job.

No word on Cutcliffe.

Phillip Fulmer spoke recently at the America Football Coaches Association’s President’s Breakfast, and the Tennessean has a nice article. From the article:

“It’s easy to be bitter,” Fulmer said. “It’s easy to be mad. But thank goodness for the experiences I’ve had.”

According to GoVolsXtra there was Phillip Fulmer sighting at ESPN. It looks like Phillip is taking others advice and taking some time off from coaching by being a studio analyst. From the article:

If there was one thing different about Fulmer it was the choice of his tie: blue.

Some people have actually suggested that the coverage by this website of Phillip Fulmer's firing at Tennessee is any thing less than fair and balanced. Thus, in order to prove those people wrong we present the top people instrumental in Phillip Fulmer's firing.

1. David Cutcliffe
David Cutcliffe wasn't actually a problem for Phillip Fulmer, but him leaving Tennessee for Ole Miss in 1998 was a big problem. After Cutcliffe vacated Tennessee's offensive coordinator position for the head coaching position at Ole Miss, Tennessee's offense has never quite been the same. When he came back in 2005 it seemed Tennessee's program was back on track, but Coach Cut left for the head coaching position at Duke in 2008. Fulmer's and Hamilton's inability to find a quality offensive coordinator other than David Cutcliffe was the biggest problem for Phillip Fulmer.

2. Kelly Washington

Kelly Washington had huge potential when he came to college at Tennessee, and was one of the few players at Tennessee to see significant playing time as a freshman. However, many critics saw him as a "me first" kind of player. He dubbed himself "the Future", and left for the NFL after 2 years at UT. He is often sighted as the beginning of a period when Philip Fulmer had many discipline problems. Even Kirk Herbstreit called out Washington as the beginning of when Fulmer started to loose control of his teams. Many former players have since come out to defend Washington, and I doubt anyone would say Washington directly lead to the many arrests that followed his time at Tennessee. Fulmer simply did not exert enough control over his teams after 2002. Phil started to get it right in 2008 with the 5 game suspension of Britton Colquitt for a DUI and the release of LaMarcus Coker after failing drug tests, but it was too late by then.

Trick Daddy considered UT and Miami before deciding to just keep Thuggin'
(completely made up stuff about Trick Daddy)

3. Nick Saban
How could a coach that was has only been back in the SEC for 2 years cause Phillip Fulmer to loose his job? Well, Nick Saban strikes fear into the heart of SEC Athletic Directors like a paternity test strikes fear into the heart of Travis Henry. The fear hit Mike Hamilton along with the rest of the ADs in the SEC.

Athletic directors looked at Saban's faster that expected turn around of the Tide and thought they had to immediately do something to compete...Even if it was the wrong thing. How else can you explain Jay Jacob's irrational move to fire Tommy Tubberville and hire Gene Chizick at Auburn?

Jay Jacobs and Nick Saban Dramatization

4. Mike Hamilton
OK, this one is obvious. Hamilton saw his success with the hire of Bruce Pearl and hopes to create the same success with Lane Kiffin.

5. Phillip Fulmer
Many other writers have documented how Fulmer hurt his chances of retaining his position at UT, but this will focus on one thing. In 2005 Phillip Fulmer did something that he hadn't done before at Tennessee. Uncharacteristically, Fulmer actually hyped up his team in the presason. Fulmer hyped his team in 2005 because the year before he saw Auburn go undefeated and not play for a BCS national championship. The building up of Tennessee worked on the media and got Tennessee ranked highly preseason. However, the hype also worked on the players, and the 2005 Vols underperformed. The huge swing from a highly ranked (overhyped) team to Fulmer's first loosing season firmly put Phil on the hot seat.
6. Layla Kiffin
Ok, she had nothing to do with it, but what Tennessee Football article would be complete without a mention of Layla Kiffin?