Is Phil Fulmer's Job at Tennessee Beyond Saving?

The enemy of any football season is apathy, and the danger with the Tennessee program is that one season's misfortune (or several seasons', to hear some of the Fulmer haters tell it) could bleed into the entire program.

If some Vol fans have already given up on this season and this coach, what guarantees their same passionate return (and their same passionate dollars) for the next season, no matter who the coach is?

This thought process reveals itself in a common thread that's emerged in the words of AD Mike Hamilton between Fulmer's current situation and the downfall of Buzz Peterson as men's basketball coach in 2004: concession sales.

Though Roy Williams joked that Peterson was fired because we weren't selling enough popcorn, apparently it's a real enough concern in the minds of those who matter, because it's popped up in the last two articles I've read in the Knoxville News-Sentinel that have contained quotes from Hamilton.

But beyond bottled water, stadium dogs, and dwindling attendance...the overall outlook on Fulmer and the Vols right now is ugly no matter how you slice it.

Fulmer probably saved his job last year in dramatic fashion a number of times, as the only thing that made up for losing at Cal and losing to your two biggest rivals 59-20 and 41-17 was winning the SEC East.

It would've been a lot more interesting had Arian Foster's final drive fumble against South Carolina not been recovered by the Vols, or if Vanderbilt's final field goal hadn't bounced off the upright, or if Kentucky had found a way in any of those four overtimes to put the Vols away.

But Tennessee won each of those games, won the division, and Fulmer was rewarded with a contract extension and a fancy new guarantee that we all took passing note of over the summer, but that now has become incredibly relevant:

Eight wins in the regular season guarantees a new extension.

For this reason, first and foremost, perhaps we should pump the brakes on the fan-driven search for a new head coach.

Not because the voices of the masses that scream for a new leader are necessarily all wrong—but because that's what the contract says.

Eight wins = another year.

The Vols are currently 2-3. The remaining schedule includes Saturday's test at No. 10 Georgia, followed by home dates with Mississippi State and No. 2 Alabama, a trip to South Carolina, a homecoming affair with Wyoming, a suddenly interesting trip to Nashville to play Vanderbilt, and the season finale in Knoxville against Kentucky.

If Tennessee navigates those seven games with only one loss, the Vols will be 8-4. And Fulmer's contract will call for an extension. Those are the facts.

When Mike Hamilton and Phil Fulmer sat down to work on that contract, I think the assumption we all shared was that Hamilton wanted to send the message that Fulmer would be the man until he retired, and Fulmer in turn gave Hamilton some sort of timetable on how long that would be.

They cited recruiting as a key incentive so kids would know that Fulmer would be the man in Knoxville and could quiet the voices of other coaching staffs in the SEC that were telling the same kids otherwise.

Today, those voices have never been louder, and they're coming from almost every corner.

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