Fulmers donate $1 million to UT
He and his wife, Vicky, are making a $1 million personal donation for scholarships and programs.
‘It is an exciting time as we open a new season, and an exciting time to be part of taking this leadership role for the university,’ the football coach said in a news conference with UT President John Petersen near the university’s signature Torchbearer statue.
The gift, a combination of current and planned giving, will be applied to a major fundraising campaign started by the five-campus, 42,000-student UT system in 2005.
UT athletics spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter said it is one of the largest gifts by a coach and their family to a university in the country.
Vicky Fulmer said the couple considered an anonymous gift but were encouraged by UT President Emeritus Joe Johnson to make it public to encourage others.
‘We understand that tradition does not perpetuate itself and extend on its own,’ Phillip Fulmer said. ‘Traditions must be advanced by those who believe in it.’
Among those attending the event was Jim Haslam, a member of the Volunteers’ 1951 national championship football team and a longtime UT booster who with his wife Natalie made a $32.5 million gift to the university in 2006.
Fulmer is a UT alumnus, a former player and a longtime coach at UT, who this spring signed a two-year contract extension through 2013 paying a little over $2 million a year. He is beginning his 15th season as head coach, winning a national championship in 1998.
The Fulmers also are the parents of four UT students, two of whom have graduated.
‘The University of Tennessee has been Phillip’s heart and soul for most of his life,’ Vicky Fulmer said. ‘We’re blessed to be in a position that allows us to do this.’
The donation will be divided equally between academics and athletics.
The Fulmers wanted to ‘make clear that Tennessee football tradition and academic tradition are inseparable,’ the coach said.
‘On behalf of the entire campus I want to express my thanks to you for all that you have done for the campus and what you are doing with this gift,’ UT-Knoxville Provost Bob Holub said.
‘It is a great day for the programs that will benefit by this gift and above all by the students who will benefit by this gift,’ he said.
In 2006, former UT quarterback Peyton Manning announced a $1 million donation to the university’s stadium campaign. Earlier this year, UT basketball coach Bruce Pearl announced that he and his wife were starting a $100,000 scholarship in the name of former player Dane Bradshaw.