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November 3, 2008

BYE PHIL

In 1995, a highly ranked Tennessee team was beating a higher ranked Florida team 30-21 at halftime in Knoxville. As Steve Spurrier walked off the field, he seemed unconcerned and typically cocky. The final score was 62-37. Danny Wuerrfel, with his navy haircut and pinpoint, zipline passing that fit Spurrier's "Let's put five receivers on the field and one of them will break coverage" tactic like a glove. After the game, Spurrier noted that he felt Florida could score every time they had the ball. This was a team that ended up playing for the National Championship, but Tennessee had Peyton Manning, the best corps of receivers he would ever have, and a defense full of future NFL players. This game is symbolic of the problem Phillip Fulmer poses: as my friend David Ozier says, he is a great guy, but he doesn't inspire fear in his opponents. In an extremely frustrating 1999 loss, I remember watching Spurrier draw a play up on the sidelines which, of course, worked. The camera went back and forth between him and Fulmer, where Fulmer looked bored and slightly confused. Spurrier adjusted, Fulmer didn't.

Phillip Fulmer seems like an incredibly nice man. From what I've heard, players love him - he finds a balance between being an authority and a paternal figure that most coaches never have. He is also such a Tennessee archetype - if Phillip Fulmer didn't exist in the East Tennessee celebrity world, we'd have to invent him. Despite some really stupid allegations, he has never discredited the program by allowing a scandal to happen under his watch. He is a good manager, a soft-spoken, friendly, likeable, and reassuring presence, a good role model, a family man who never flaunted his wealth and always reminded you of his roots. But he was not a great coach, and the last few years attest to that.

When faced with other brilliant football minds (Urban Meyer, Spurrier), Fulmer is outmatched. He should not shoulder all the blame for this, but the degree to which his coordinators have failed is a detail we will probably never really know - my assumption has always been that Fulmer micromanages everything and always has the last word (as, in theory, he probably should), as the basic offensive mentality never really changed under either Cutcliffe, Sanders, or Clawsen. But we'll never really know until someone writes a tell-all book. But my guess is all that finger-pointing will turn ceremonial, and Fulmer's move will be viewed as graceful rather than fully defeated.

I have watched pretty much every game Tennessee played on television in the last 16 years. I know a lot about John Milton; I can tell you what he was doing when was 13 and when he was 42. But there is very little I know more about than Tennessee football - it is an obsession I have often threatened to abandon, but of course that doesn't work with obsessions. The geography of my growing up is painted largely in orange (god, that was pretentious). I have watched the videotape of the 1999 National Championship game more times than I have read PARADISE LOST; it was a perfect moment when Tennessee's talent overwhelmed a very good team. Though they often struggled to beat teams they were clearly better than, that team was one of the most talented groups to ever take the field. Fulmer's game plans make me want to tear my hair out, but I don't hate him; I just shudder when I think of 12-7 victories over Vanderbilt (1995) when Peyton Manning is your quarterback or losing to LSU in the SEC Championship (2001) when all they had left was a second string quarterback and running back. Or going into the Auburn Game 3-0 (2004) and having no defensive change-up counter best running attack in the history of the SEC (and then losing to a bad Notre Dame team later that year). Or this season when Tennessee clearly has playmakers but no idea how to use them. Maybe the good does outweigh the bad, or at least maybe for a while it did, but at the moment the guys who pay for stadium expansions don't think so.

Fulmer's exit is necessary, and hopefully the future is bright. Tennessee does not have to fill this spot quickly to reassure its fan base (like LSU after Saban left, or any institution that has ever been involved with Larry Brown). They should wait until the end of the season and see who's available - and my guess is that it won't be a hard sell. But as fans, we should be patient with 2009, which will likely be a rough year; look what happened at Alabama last year, and look what's happening this year.

I'll be interested to see how the blogosphere and Vol publications respond. My guess is that they will share my sentiments (good guy; mediocre coach; wretched season), but there are definitely loyalists. We'll all sing Rocky Top again, but I have a feeling this event will divide Vol nation, and challenge the already questionable ability to recruit top talent.

But it is strange to think of a game where Fulmer is not draped in orange and looking like a pumpkin on the sideline.

| By Andytown | 12:42 PM

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Posted by: meerkat at November 3, 2008 1:11 PM

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