Is Fulmer Gone For Real Now?

Tony Basilio is reporting on the air that University of Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton has requested a meeting with Jimmy Sexton, who is Phil Fulmer’s agent. This apparently signals an official move to end the Phil Fulmer error era at UT. According to Basilio, neither camp is going to confirm this, at least not right now.

There are some who aren’t going to believe it’s true until it is admitted on the UTAD’s state-sponsored radio station, but you have to give it Basilio–he’s called quite a few of these events early in the past.

So now we can (almost) officially ask the question–who are they going to get?

**UPDATE**
I just realized that it is completely possible that they are meeting to discuss a raise and contract extension.

Tennessee Football–What I’d Do

Actually, it’s what I’d do in just about any situation. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about football at all. I mean, I played for 10 years, but most of the teams I played on weren’t very good, so it’s safe to assume that most of what I learned was wrong anyway. On top of that, I don’t really care if Tennessee decides to fire Phil Fulmer. I love hearing the drama on local talk radio, so if he stays that’s fine with me.

But if I were tasked with the difficult job of recruiting and coaching in a state that’s not really known to produce a huge amount of talent out of high school, I would adjust my strategy and get the top talent in the region by doing something no one else in the league is doing.

I’d do what no one else in the league is doing.

I’d take the same contrarian approach to football that people take to investing–do what no one else is doing while it’s cheap and easy to get in. Wait until that’s the fad, then get out and do something else.

No one in the league is running the option? Sweet–that means I should have no problem recruiting the best option quarterback in the region. Yeah, some of those guys would choose to go to another school to play a different position, but in most cases quarterbacks want to play quarterback. Why not give them the opportunity?

It could be–and this is just speculation–that the coaching staff can’t do anything else, so they are forced to compete for the top talent to fit them in to the only system they know.

The Phillip Fulmer Show

I didn’t see much of the game yesterday, but I’m sitting here now enjoying Phil Fulmer’s stoicism on his show. It’s amusing. You know, when you use the phrase “Chad had a fantastic second half”, and Chad is your punter, things can’t be too good on offense. Punters on good teams don’t have the opportunity to measure their success by halves.

No matter, this was a defensive battle. It was epic–one for the ages.

Right.

And Fulmer remains 7 games away from his guaranteed contract extension. That reminds me, there are some guys locally who’ve designed a t-shirt in honor of this beautifully negotiated deal. It’s the Coacho Ocho limited edition T.

Eight is enough to line your pockets with dough!

It’s Halftime. Can Fulmer be Fired Midgame?

I’m admittedly only halfway watching the Tennessee/Florida game, but what I’ve seen is atrocious. It looks like I stopped caring about college football a few years too early. I should have waited until this year to jump off the bandwagon. Every fan deserves at least one season of pure agony, right? I’m not talking about the agony of losing close games either…I’m talking about going out and getting abused by good teams and squeaking out wins (or losses) against bad ones.

If I were UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton, I’d be worried about my own job if I don’t get a football coach that can meet the expectation of fans who are being charged more and more for tickets.

Beat the rush…fire Phil Fulmer at halftime. Of course, sports talk radio isn’t nearly as entertaining when the Vols or winning, so for personal reasons I hope he stays around.

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Fire Fulmer! Redux

Here that?  That’s the muffled sound of cars running in closed garages all over East Tennessee.  There are big problems in the area.  Well, big problems unless you advertise on sports radio here and want your ad heard in between the “Fire Fulmer” calls.  It seems like I wrote this exact post exactly one year ago.  Oh yeah, I did.

After the stats about how long it’s been since the Vols won an SEC Championship, coasting since 1998, and how good Florida is every year, we’ll be asked that age old question…

“When are we gonna get somebody in here that can get it done?”

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Let’s Call it Two Million Hundred Dollars

Maybe that would have been an easier PR sell for the UT Athletic Department. Then they’d only be dealing with hundreds of dollars instead of millions. That may be a little easier for people to swallow.

And this facility is used how many times a year? Seven? Let’s be generous and call it ten since the Knoxville Marathon finishes in the stadium and there’s a chance Kenny Chesney may play there. And let’s assume that the investment is stretched out over ten years, or 100 days of use.

That means these upgrades will only cost $2,000,000 for each day they are in service.

“We’re being as careful as we’ve always been to make sure we spend these dollars wisely that Tennessee fans and donors invest,” Currie said.

It must be nice to have money.  I’m just glad it’s not my money they’re spending.

Neyland face-lift: $200M.

Instant Replay in Major League Baseball?

Yeah.  That’s the real problem with baseball.  It’s not their looking the other way with steroids a la the WWE.  It’s not the designated hitter (why not have 9 offensive player and 9 defensive players?).

The problem is that there is no instant replay?

George Will is a lot smarter than me, and he’s way better at getting people to agree with him than I am.  You’re better off just reading his thoughts.

In the NFL, coaches’ challenges, which trigger replays, contribute to the sense that a game consists of about seven minutes of action — seriously: Use a stopwatch, and you will confirm that — encrusted with three hours of pageantry, hoopla and instant-replay litigation.

I Never Thought I’d Live To See It

Tennessee is the top ranked team in the nation? In basketball? Men’s basketball?

You have to understand, I attended the University of Tennessee during the reigns of Wade Houston and Kevin O’Neil. I was a pretty die hard fan back then. Of course it was easy to sit in the front row of the student section back then. But my memories of Tennessee basketball consist of Carlus Groves and Steve Rivers running their version of the shake and bake (mostly off the court bake), and poor Allan Houston carrying the load on his own. I guess that’s not totally fair. Houston had help from Token Lang Wiseman and Corey Allen. Of course they were canceled out by Gannon Goodson and Jay Price, both of whom I can vouch for as really nice guys, even if they weren’t great players.

Who would have thought back then that just 16 short years and…hang on, let me count them…four coaches later the Vols would be ranked #1?

Now that the big game is over and decided, it will be nice to hear local sports call in shows get back to talking about what really matters. Of course, I’m talking about football: “Guys, do you think we’ll beat Flarda this year?” and “When are they gonna git rid of Fulmer?”

See, basketball don’t really matter ’round here. Did you notice the players weren’t jumping up and down after the big win? It’s because all they care about is football too.

Or maybe they have class and they expected to win?