Tennessee football: Top five coaches who worked under Johnny Majors
2. player. 839. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 1980-1992. Phillip Fulmer. OL Coach; OC
Head coaching record: 152-52
- Tennessee Volunteers 1992-2008 (152-52)
Obviously, the most famous protege of Johnny Majors is Phillip Fulmer. It’s obviously a very infamous situation as to how Fulmer became such a successful protege of Majors, but we’re not going to talk about that here. Instead, we should focus on what Fulmer did for Tennessee football and how he developed under Majors beforehand.
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Remember, Fulmer was just like Majors in the fact that he played for the Vols. He did it in the 1960s. However, Fulmer also spent most of his assistant coaching career on Rocky Top. He truly paid his dues, serving as a student coach under Bill Battle in 1972 and 1973 before spending five years with the Wichita State Shockers and one year with the Vanderbilt Commodores.
In 1980, Fulmer returned to UT and spent nine years as offensive line coach for the school, demonstrating his loyalty. All of the rebuilding success that happened under Majors during that time happened with Fulmer, as he developed All-Americans such as Bill Mayo, Harry Galbreath, Eric Still and Antone Davis.
After waiting his turn, Fulmer replaced Walt Harris in 1989 and helped Majors win back to back SEC Championships while going 9-3 in 1991. Then the 1992 season happened, which ended with him taking over as head coach of the Vols.
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We all know what happened then. Fulmer ushered in the most successful period of the modern era for Tennessee football, winning two SEC Championships, five SEC East championships and a national championship. To this day, he’s the second-best coach in UT history. But his growth came from the number of years he spent under Majors.