A press conference will be held today at 5p at Neyland Stadium where Fulmer will announce that he's stepping down. It's ironic that 16 years ago, John Majors was let go after losing to South Carolina and Fulmer is in his 16th year at the U of T.
Let me get one thing straight, I like Phil Fulmer, he WAS a good coach, but I feel the game has passed him by. We've been in the SEC Championship several times and won a national championship under Philip, but those times are long gone. We've seen too many big losses for Fulmer's reign as UT Coach to continue. Losing to Bama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina is not the Tennessee way, and losing as big as we did to those schools isn't the Tennessee way either. This is a change that I feel should have happened long ago. We've been decent but not great the last few years, and UT Football was built by General Neyland for greatness, and anything less than that should be UNACCEPTABLE to any Volunteer fan.
As for the names that are being bandied about now, here's a few of them. I've offered up commentary on a few of them before.
Jon Gruden Current Coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs
Lane Kiffin former coach of the Oakland Raiders
David Cutcliffe-current head coach at Duke and UT stalwart
Mike Leach- current head coach at Texas Tech
Will Muschamp- current Defensive Coordinator at Texas
Chris Petersen- Head Coach at Boise State
I've even heard Bill Cowher's name bandied about, but I don't feel that's serious now along with a couple of other options.
As I said the other day, a coach with a big name and a big swagger is what Tennessee needs. I hate to say this, but we need a coach with the "Pearl Factor": Parts salesman, part coach, all entertainer. We need someone to compete with Saban and Meyer and Richt for recruits and for TV time.
I'll have thoughts on the press conference after it's all over today. I would like to say thanks for Phil Fulmer for all he's done for UT Football.
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