An Absurdly Premature Assessment of: Tennessee (1 Viewer)

[JOElittleBIGhorn]

I came across this little summary of the Fulmer extension. As an LSU fan, if they offered the same contract to Miles I would be pretty angry. 8 wins a year for a historical powerhouse is not something that should be condoned, let alone rewarded.

Some of the details:

* A raise to $2.4 million per season this year, escalating by $150,000 each year thereafter;
* His contract goes through 2014.

We can all question the wisdom of giving a multi-year contract extension to a coach who was on the verge of being fired less than one year ago, and who then signed a rather mediocre recruiting class for the 2008 season. (According to Rivals, there were almost as many 2-stars signed (3) as there were 4-stars (4). Compare to LSU, which in a rather pedestrian signing class got zero 2-stars and thirteen 4-stars. Not that recruiting stars mean everything, but they are a good guide to judge the strength of a class. It's no coincidence that teams that routinely get highly ranked recruiting classes also frequently end up in the top 10 in the country on the field.)

...



But it doesn't stop there:

* $1 million bonus in December 2012;
* Financial incentives for winning the Eastern Division, the SEC, and the National Championship;
* A bonus year added to the contract for each 8-win season.


...

But that last provision is the kicker. It says that Phillip Fulmer is Tennessee's "Coach for Life" as long as he keeps getting 8 wins per season. One would think that an 8-win season would be a major disappointment at Tennessee, but under this agreement, such a mediocre season comes with an automatic vote of confidence and an opportunity to have more mediocre seasons

Pretty good assessment, read the rest here: http://www.andthevalleyshook.com/2008/7/8/566663/the-worst-college-football


EDIT:

Bottom line for me - regardless of talent level through the Majors era and the early part of the Fulmer era, Tennessee was arguably the hardest hitting and most physical team in the conference year-in-and-year-out. Playing Tennessee you knew you were going to see a lot of hitting in the trenches. That is gone now. Our offensive linne really doesn;t strike fear in anyone anymore. And our DL is consistently near the bottom in the conference.
Tennessee is soft. We are winning games becasue the team usually plays relatively smart. But we aren't Tennessee anymore. We are Arkansas, a mid-level team that might make it to Atlanta every few years, but never wins.

It almost seems like Tennessee is OK with being that kind of program with that last provision. I really think Tennessee should be much better than that.

 

[JimEverett]

1. They had a lackluster recruiting class this year and may continue that with the loss of Trooper Taylor.

Yeah, this last recruiting year was bad. But, Tennessee has had a history of having "off" recruting years in between really good years. Panic will set in if we aren't at least close to top 10 or better. Losing Trooper Taylor was mitigated by the fact that we got Stan Drayton who apparently was a top recruiter for Florida.

2. I've anaylized Fulmer for years and it's evident that he himself doesn't actually coach other than the Olineman. He has delegated all offensive and defensive responsiblities to the coordinators.
If anyone needs proof, check out the season UT had when Cutcliffe left and the difference that was made when he returned. If Phil lost Chavis somehow they'd really be screwed...It will be interesting to see how the Ocoordinator from Richmond does this year.

I think the opposite. I think Phil has too much control over the offense. Our offense is basically the same offense as it was when Phil was OC under Majors. Sure, there have been tweaks, particularly as it relates to the strengths and weaknesses of QBs - but it is the same offense. In fact, one of the things about Cutcliffe was that he was simply a great QB coach and Fulmer liked that becasue it allowed Fulmer control of the offense. Its the same offense as it was wehn Sanders was OC, just better QB play.
Fulmer runs the offense. The hope is that Clawson is coming in with more control than OC under Phil. We will just have to see if that is true.

 

[UGASaintsFan]

I am so happy Cutcliffe is gone. I don't think UGA has beaten UT with him being on the sideline and I am not aware that we have lost to UT with him being gone. (Maybe once on both of those but not more than that).

 

[Mule]

From one of the better sports blogs out there. If you're not a subscriber, you should be asking yourself "Why?"

http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2008/5/30/542457/an-absurdly-premature-asse

IMO, UT has been in a tailspin since the newest recruiting restrictions were put into place, which ground the private aircraft. Tennessee isn't exactly a hotbed of football talent like Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, California, etc. They always relied on cherry picking from surrounding states and Fulmer did a fantastic job of stealing some good players thanks to what was probably the largest recruiting budget of any school. Fulmer is getting by on coaching now.

Discuss.

Fullmer has never gotten by on coaching. They didn't call him the king of the kitchen 'cause he was fat. Phil has made his way on recruiting. Spurrier, Saban, Meyers & others have spanked him with less talent.