Embarrassing.
Overrated.
Poorly Coached.
Underachieving.
I could go on, but you get the point. When Coach Fulmer said that the Vols were just "a few plays away from a great season" during his press conference acknowledging the resignation of Randy Sanders, I knew he was in bad need of a reality check. Sadly, the check must have bounced since he just said, "Before you start building back anything, you have to hit rock bottom. This is rock bottom."
Message to Coach Fulmer: When you're ranked number three in the preseason, that is not a team that should be found at the 'rock bottom'.
Now, the cheerleaders masquerading as journalists on "The Sports Animal" have all vocally supported Fulmer, (I guess the 'animal' must be an ostrich) saying he should be given a chance to turn the team around. Of course, they have to say that. If they tell the truth about the futility of Fulmer's program, they may lose access to the athletes, and since their network is all Vol, all the time, that would be the equivalent of broadcast suicide. So instead of being honest, they'll make excuses for the coaches, and remind us of the National Championship from 7 years ago, or blame it on the players.
But here's the thing: Why should the man who brought us from a National Championship to these depths be given the chance to bring us out? And more to the point, what has he done to make anybody with half a brain think he can turn this thing around? After all, it's been his decisions that have led us to where we are.
Remember this post from Oct24th? Check out the charts and the stats there. Philip Fulmer has coached the Vols from excellence to mediocrity (or worse) all while placing more players in the NFL than just about every other program in the nation. Not to mention spending considerably more than all the other Division I schools.
What the Sports Ostriches won't tell you is that it isn't just about results; it's about meeting or exceeding expectations. Here's an example. Vandy is going to finish the season with a losing record again. But, they took Florida to double overtime, stretched Georgia, and beat Tennessee for the first time in 22 years. They'll finish 5-6 and be ecstatic about it, because nobody expected them to be that successful. Tennessee on the other hand will finish 5-6, if we're lucky, but because we expected to go 10-2 or maybe 9-3 at the worst, we're not going to be ecstatic about it.
Now that's a gross example (very gross actually) but what the radio pundits refuse to acknowledge is that the same arithmetic applies when you expect to go 10-1 but you go 8-3, and this has been par for the course under Fulmer. His teams consistently fail to meet expectations based on the talent he has available. So while Jimmy may crow about all the 8 or 9 win seasons, he's forgetting that they should have been 10 or 11 win seasons. In effect, Fulmer needs his teams to be more talented than opposing teams in order to break even, and significantly more talented in order to win.
This is not a recipe for a winning program.
Sadly, I have to remind you of the prediction I made on Oct 24th:
Upset lock of the millennium Take Vandy and the points against Tennessee on Nov 19. The 'Dores are about to end the streak and win outright.
For all of you out there who still think we can't fire Fulmer, let me ask you two questions:
How many times has a team ranked in the Top 5 finished the season with a losing record?
Of those teams, how many kept their head coach?
Why should the man who brought us from a National Championship to these depths be given the chance to bring us out? And more to the point, what has he done to make anybody with half a brain think he can turn this thing around? After all, it's been his decisions that have led us to where we are.
For a second there I though you were talking about Bush. Heh. Indeed.
The generally accepted conventional wisdom re. why U.T. can't fire Fulmer is because it would cost $4 million to buy out the reset of the contract and they are already paying millions for two previous basketball coach contract buyouts.
On the other hand, they don't seem to have much trouble raising money from alumni to build new skyboxes and whatnot. Except I'm not sure what good more/better seats are with a performance like this.
Priorities!
(Also, it would seem that U.T.'s number one problem is a lack of discipline. Mental errors on and off the field, stupid penalties, dropped passes, fumbles, interceptions, you know, basic football 101 stuff, are all symptoms. And did I mention off-the-field discipline? And who does all that come back to? Partly the players, of course. But I seriously doubt Steve Spurier would put up with it. Gen. Neyland or Bear Bryant sure wouldn't have. These "players" wouldn't be players for long.)
Posted by: R. Neal on November 21, 2005 11:06 AMRandy! Nice to see you.
I agree completely that the root problem with UT is the lack of discipline. It shows up everywhere throughout the program and has only been getting worse as the years go by. And now with Mike Hamilton making excuses for the players poor behavior after the game, I expect the slide to continue. I only played for two years in PeeWee and Midget football, but if any of us had slung our helmets or left them on the field after a game, we wouldn't play in the next game. If an unpaid coach can hold 11 and 12 year old kids to that standard, why can't a coach getting paid $2 million a year hold 18 year olds to it as well?
Since UT appears to lack the fortitude or the finances to fire Fulmer, I'd love to see him give up about $600K to fund the hiring of Cutcliffe and a significant raise for Chavis.
And this season, the best seats were in any high school stadium, where the players still play for the love of the game, and where discipline isn't just a word.
Posted by: rich on November 21, 2005 4:45 PM