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Once again, Phillip Fulmer unifies Tennessee Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 22: Head coach Phillip Fulmer of the Tennessee Volunteers waves to the fans as he celebrates their 20-10 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium on November 22, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 22: Head coach Phillip Fulmer of the Tennessee Volunteers waves to the fans as he celebrates their 20-10 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium on November 22, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Former Tennessee Vols football coach Phillip Fulmer has once again come in to clean up a mess that has plagued the Volunteers.

The timing may be bad. The coaching search may be on hold. But Tennessee Vols fans have come together once again. And it’s behind the guy who has been a stable force for the university for over two decades.

Phillip Fulmer took over as athletic director Friday, replacing John Currie after the disaster that came about from him doing the bidding of the incompetent Haslam family. It came right as Currie seemed ready to seal the deal with Mike Leach.

But although the program missed out on a great coach, it sacrificed that to assure much better long-term success.

Fulmer will not be a pathetic puppet to the Haslam family. He won’t make moves to serve his own personal agenda either, even if he has personal ambitions and wanted this job. He’ll do everything possible for the good of the Tennessee Vols.

The second most successful coach in school history, Fulmer has history with situations like these.

Back in 1992, he had to step in for Johnny Majors when Majors was recovering from open-heart surgery. Fulmer took the team to a 3-0 record as interim head coach with a new quarterback and against two Top 25 programs.

As Majors began to split the boosters and the fan base, the Tennessee Vols lost three straight later in the year.

Now, you can take what happened however you want it. We know about the ugly situation that got Majors fired.

However, there’s no debating that the hire of Fulmer as full-time head coach brought the university like never before. And with a staff made of David Cutcliffe and John Chavis, he ushered in the most successful era in Tennessee football history post-Robert Neyland.

Now, regardless of what happens going forward, the Tennessee Vols fan base has its leader to bring people back together. And he’s a leader who will put Tennessee above everything else. In its current state, the football program could not ask for anything more.

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