Fulmer worries about impatience with college coaches
IRVING, Texas — Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer knows winning is the key to holding down a coaching job, but he thinks firing coaches after short tenures is bad for college football.
Fulmer has racked up the longest tenure (13 years) of any current Southeastern Conference coach while watching with dismay as some colleagues around the nation didn’t win enough and were booted.
“I can’t for one minute think if we didn’t do well I couldn’t be on that list as well,” Fulmer said Thursday. “At least I know from an administrative standpoint that those other priorities — social development, academic development, even spiritual development — is important to the longevity of a program.”
Fulmer is preparing the No. 15 Volunteers (9-3) to face No. 22 Texas A&M (7-4) in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday.
Winning bowl games has been tough for Fulmer during his 13 years at Tennessee.
A Cotton Bowl loss would drop him to 6-7 in postseason play, further testing the administration’s tolerance for bowl defeats when weighed against Fulmer’s 122-31 overall record, including one national and two SEC titles.
“It’s very difficult to maintain a program. That’s what we’ve been able to do here is continue to maintain, but I’m ready to take the next step back to where we were in 2001,” he said. “This to me is a huge opportunity to try to do that.”
The Vols missed a chance to play for the national title in 2001 after losing to LSU in the SEC championship, but partly made up for it by beating Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
The university normally announces Fulmer’s raise or contract extension before each bowl, but this year Fulmer and his new agent, Jimmy Sexton, will start negotiations in January.
While sitting next to Aggies coach Dennis Franchione during a news conference, Fulmer was asked what he would most like to change about college football.
“Having a good friend at Ole Miss go through what he went through after one of the best eras at Ole Miss in recent history and getting fired, I think we’re headed in the wrong direction,” Fulmer said.
Fulmer’s former assistant David Cutcliffe was recently fired after the Rebels went 4-7 and finished second to last in the SEC West division.
He also pointed to the short tenures of Notre Dame’s Tyrone Willingham and Nebraska’s Frank Solich.
“All of us as coaches understand that on Saturday you’ve got to win. I don’t think the gentleman at Notre Dame did anybody any favors by saying Tyrone Willingham did every thing right between Sunday and Friday. The players’ GPAs were way up, hadn’t had any off the field problems, he just didn’t get it done on Saturday. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
Franchione, now a head coach at his seventh school, spent three successful seasons at TCU before he was hired by Alabama. He stayed only two seasons with the Tide before jumping to Texas A&M.
“I envy Phil. I think a lot of us in our profession admire what he’s been able to do and the longevity he’s been able to have,” Franchione said. “In this day and age in coaching, Phil is becoming the exception. … My hope would be to have that kind of tenure at Texas A&M.”
The Aggies have had a big turnaround from last season’s 4-8 campaign that included a 77-0 loss to Oklahoma.
This is Texas A&M’s first bowl appearance since a 28-9 victory over TCU in the 2001 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl. And the Cotton Bowl is a big deal for the Aggies while it’s somewhat of a disappointment for the Vols.
“A win over Tennessee is a significant win just for us at Texas A&M having lost the last four Cotton Bowls,” Franchione said.