Phillip Fulmer
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Phillip Fulmer (born September 1, 1950 in Winchester, Tennessee), is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee, where he has been since 1992. Fulmer is the 20th head football coach in the history of the school.
Before coaching
Fulmer grew up in Winchester, Tennessee where he attended Franklin County High School. Fulmer enrolled at the University of Tennessee as a student in 1968. He promptly joined the football team as an offensive guard. Fulmer helped Tennessee to a 30-5 record from 1969-71, where he played for coaches Doug Dickey (who returned to UT as athletic director and hired Fulmer as the Volunteers' coach) and Bill Battle. The Volunteers captured the SEC championship with a 9-2 record in 1969, went 11-1 and won the Sugar Bowl in 1970, and finished as Liberty Bowl champions with a 10-2 record in 1971.
Early coaching career
Fulmer served as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator for the Vols freshman team in 1973 before moving to Wichita State University the following season. He spent five years at Wichita State, where he coached the offensive line in 1974 and 1977-78 and served as linebacker coach in 1975-76. He followed those years with a one-season stint at Vanderbilt, serving as an aide to Commodores head coach George MacIntyre.
University of Tennessee
Fulmer served 13 years as a Vols assistant coach beginning in 1980 before becoming the 20th head football coach at Tennessee, after a controversial decision to replace then-coach Johnny Majors, who had been ill. [1]
In Fulmer's early career Tennessee won two Southeastern Conference championships, in 1997 and 1998, and a national championship in 1998. The Vols made three other SEC Championship game appearances in 2001, 2004, and 2007 losing all three. Despite the decline over the past several years, Fulmer's winning percentage is still among the top in the country for coaches who have over ten years' experience.
Fulmer helped return Tennessee to national prominence from 1993 to 1998, when he won the first ever BCS National Championship Game. The Vols appeared in three consecutive Bowl Alliance or BCS games from 1997 to 1999, and posted 10 or more wins from 1995 to 1998. The senior class of the 1998 team compiled a record of 45-5, losing only to Florida (3 times), Nebraska and Memphis.
Fulmer has a reputation as an ace recruiter, leading many analysts to praise him as one of the game's top head coach recruiters. [2]. Fulmer has only had one losing season at Tennessee: in 2005, Fulmer's pre-season third-ranked Volunteers went 5-6, losing to in-state SEC rival Vanderbilt for the first time in his 14-year tenure. The losing season also kept Tennessee out of a bowl game for the first time since 1988, a streak of 16 years which was the third-longest in the NCAA.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee Volunteers (SEC) (1992–present) | |||||||||
| 1992 | Tennessee | 4–0* | 2-0 | W Hall of Fame | 12 | 12 | |||
| 1993 | Tennessee | 10–2 | 7-1 | T-1st (East) $ | L Florida Citrus | 11 | 12 | ||
| 1994 | Tennessee | 8–4 | 5-3 | 2nd (East) | W Gator | 18 | 22 | ||
| 1995 | Tennessee | 11–1 | 7-1 | 2nd (East) | W Florida Citrus | 2 | 3 | ||
| 1996 | Tennessee | 10–2 | 7-1 | 2nd (East) | W Florida Citrus | 9 | 9 | ||
| 1997 | Tennessee | 11–2 | 7-1 | 1st (East) | L Orange | 8 | 7 | ||
| 1998 | Tennessee | 13–0 | 8-0 | 1st (East) | W Fiesta | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1999 | Tennessee | 9–3 | 6-2 | 2nd (East) | L Fiesta | 9 | 9 | ||
| 2000 | Tennessee | 8–4 | 5-3 | T-2nd (East) | L Cotton | 25 | — | ||
| 2001 | Tennessee | 11–2 | 7-1 | 1st (East) | W Florida Citrus | 4 | 4 | ||
| 2002 | Tennessee | 8–5 | 5–3 | 3rd | L Peach | — | — | ||
| 2003 | Tennessee | 10–3 | 6–2 | T-1st (East) $ | L Peach | 16 | 15 | ||
| 2004 | Tennessee | 10–3 | 7–1 | 1st | W Cotton | 15 | 13 | ||
| 2005 | Tennessee | 5–6 | 3–5 | T-4th (East) | No Bowl Appearance | — | — | ||
| 2006 | Tennessee | 9–4 | 5–3 | 2nd (East) | L Outback | 23 | 25 | ||
| 2007 | Tennessee | 10–4 | 6–2 | T-1st (East) | W Outback | 12 | 12 | ||
| 2008 | Tennessee | 1–3 | 0–2 | 5th (East) | TBD | — | — | ||
| Tennessee: | 148–48 | 87-29 | *-other half of the season was coached by Johnny Majors.
$-Finished tied for first in East Division, but missed spot in SEC championship game due to tiebreaker. | ||||||
| Total: | 148–48 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Family
Fulmer and his wife Vicky have three daughters: Courtney, Brittany, and Allison. Son Phillip Jr. is from a previous relationship. Fulmer is also a new grandfather. Phillip, Courtney's first child, made his first appearance at the "Vol Walk" and Neyland Stadium on September 13, 2008.
See also
References
- ^ Marvin West, Tales of Tennessee Vols: Volunteer Legends, Landmarks, Laughs and Lies, 2002, pp. 88-92.
- ^ Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
External links
- PhillipFulmer.com Phillip Fulmer's homepage for University of Tennessee football
- UT Sports Coaching Records