Ranking all 6 Tennessee football head coaches who played for Vols
There’s no surprise with this one. Succeeding Johnny Majors, in a very awkward situation in 1992, was the guy who filled in for him while he was out. Phillip Fulmer had a pure Tennessee football bloodline that’s barely matched.
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When he took over the Vols, his track record included playing for Doug Dickey and Bill Battle from 1968 to 1970, enjoying an SEC Championship and two top 10 finishes. Then it included being an assistant from 1980 to 1992, including offensive coordinator from 1989 to 1992.
Fulmer went 3-0 as Majors’s replacement, and then he replaced Majors permanently in the bowl game, which he won. The next year, he began to max out what was developing as the greatest period in UT history. The Vols went 9-2-1 (later 10-2) in 1993 and secured the No. 1 recruiting class in 1994, led by Peyton Manning.
After an 8-4 rebuilding year, they had their best four-year stretch ever outside of 1938-1941, going 45-5 from 1995 to 1998, winning two SEC Championships and capturing a national title. That national title cements Fulmer as the greatest UT coach to play for the school.
Next. Projecting the Vols' 2019 2-deep depth chart. dark
After that, things fell off a bit, but Fulmer still consistently enjoyed top 25 finishes and big wins. He was forced out in 2008, 16 years after his predecessor was, but not before those championships and winning 100 more games than he lost. That allows him to be clearly No. 1 on this list.