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Tennessee Football: Hiring Phillip Fulmer is a smart move

By Shannon Sickmon

Oct 15, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers former quarterback Peyton Manning stands with Tennessee Volunteers vice chancellor/director of athletics Dave Hart (left) and former Volunteers head coach Phillip Fulmer (right) before the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers former quarterback Peyton Manning stands with Tennessee Volunteers vice chancellor/director of athletics Dave Hart (left) and former Volunteers head coach Phillip Fulmer (right) before the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tennessee football announced earlier this week that it has hired former legendary coach Phillip Fulmer in an advisory position.

The University of Tennessee has hired legendary former coach Phillip Fulmer as an advisor to the university president, Joe DiPietro. What does hiring Fulmer mean for Tennessee athletics? In the end, Fulmer’s position should be a salve to a troubled fan base, but there could be some issues.

Fulmer’s name is sacred in Tennessee football. His 152 wins are second only to Robert Neyland’s, who amassed 173 wins in his almost 30-year tenure coaching Tennessee. Fulmer won two SEC titles, seven division titles and a national championship. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Hiring Fulmer in any position will help university-fan relations, but the question remains — is the move to hire Fulmer going to change anything for Tennessee athletics?

The answer is yes, it might, if Fulmer and new AD John Currie can get over their past history and show a united front. Rumor has it that new Vols AD John Currie and Fulmer didn’t get along in the past, and Currie was supposedly instrumental in firing Fulmer. Whether that is true or not, Fulmer now holds a position advising Tennessee President DiPietro.

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While Fulmer will most likely take the high road, it’s possible he could use his position to make Currie’s life difficult. Yet Fulmer never vilified Currie before, even when he was still smarting from being summarily dismissed.  Fulmer and Currie seem to have formed a tenuous merger, so perhaps past problems have been resolved.

As a conference, the SEC has higher expectations than most. AD Currie wants Tennessee athletics to succeed, as does Fulmer. Both men have ties to the university, as both attended school there. If the two men can pull together, Fulmer’s ambassadorial position could be the boon that the flailing Tennessee program needs. The Vols’ fan base, used to their team being title contenders, has become apathetic, at best, and hostile, at worst.

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Adding Fulmer back into the Tennessee family should help to bring back some of those fans and should help cement relationships with new ones. Fulmer’s new position could also take some of the uncomfortable spotlight off head coach Butch Jones. Hiring Fulmer back at Tennessee may be a smart move—Fulmer’s presence should have a stabilizing effect. Time will tell if it will be enough to revitalize the struggling football program.

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