Tennessee Family Divorce: Father Phil Fulmer Resigns!

Dorothy Thornton — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:26:18 -0500

As a Vol fan, you remember where you were when you watched the infamous Peerless Price catch down the sideline in 1998… you remember where you were when Peyton Manning told the Vol Nation he had decided to stay for his senior year… and you will always remember where you were when you heard the news that, yes, indeed, Phil Fulmer would resign.

If you saw the press conference this afternoon and did not shed a tear, or swallow hard a few times, then you just don’t get what we are about… plainly put, we are the Tennessee Family, and it feels like we just went through a divorce.

The fans wanted a newer, flashier, younger model and counseling with the AD didn’t help the relationship much. And the ones that will suffer most are the children…the players.

Yes, the fans have been frustrated. Why have we seemed unprepared to face ranked teams and big games in the past three years?

Why have we lost great recruiting/offensive coordinator caliber coaches through the years like Charlie Garner and Trooper Taylor to Georgia and Oklahoma State respectively?

Why did it take so long to replace Crompton after the first two games of the 2008 season?

For most fans, 2008 represented the year when we were going to make a change and move on. Cutcliff moved on to Duke, creating the opportunity to get fresh offensive schemes from a new OC.

But how great could those schemes have been if you only had to beat the likes of The University of Maine every year? Fulmer had too much class to pull the plug on the new OC the way Tuberville did at Auburn, but it may have cost him his job.

Fulmer was more than gracious in his parting words, and his “class act” can only be a true testament to his love and dedication to the team and program he loved. But it seems the program is moving on without him, perhaps seeking a new "trophy wife" of a coach.

But what about the kids…the team? Eric Berry was interviewed by the Atlanta Journal Constitution last week and asked what he liked most about Tennessee. His answer: “The Tennessee Fans!”

Did you hear this one: 25 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by land, the other 75% is covered by Eric Berry. Let no one doubt that this team has not quit, and Phil Fulmer deserves credit for that! And Eric and his peers are the future of this team.

The University of Tennessee has chosen to roll the coaching dice, and are no doubt hoping to move into the era of the spread offense (for real this time) and shooting for style points and BCS bowl games.

But let it not go unsaid, we will always be proud of the Fulmer years, especially 1998 (do you think Clint Storner has ever lived down that blade of grass he tripped on?). “…you’ll always be, home sweet home to me…”

Bleacher Report - Articles by Dorothy Thornton

Tennessee Family Divorce: Father Phil Fulmer Resigns!