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The coaching carousel that Vol Nation has experienced is finally over! It’s been a nightmare for UT sports across the board. It has made me so nauseous (along with getting car sick) that I now have an Rx for nauseous medicine. From Lane Kiffin leaving in the middle of the night, to Derek Dooley’s comb-over, to Butch Jones and his corny clichés, Vol Nation has been feeling pretty sick from 2009-2017. We’ve been through enough in football alone. (Men’s basketball coaching changes are a whole different ball game.) The fans have sat back and taken loss after loss for too long. With the use of social media, Vol Nation used their voices and became apart of what has to be the wildest coach search in college history.
The best move the University of Tennessee has made is firing AD John Currie and hiring the legend, Coach Phillip Fulmer. Coach Fulmer was a former player, coach and National Championship winner for the Vols. From 1992-2008, Fulmer led the Vol walk and was one of nations top recruiters. After Fulmer was asked to step down as the head coach, Fulmer was still a VFL (Vol For Life), even after the way he was let go.
Still living in the Knoxville area, Fulmer became a special advisor to the university president in June. On December 1st Fulmer was welcomed back with open arms. This was step one for the university to right the first of their many wrongs in athletics. At his press conference Fulmer said “This is an important time in our athletic history. We all agree on the objective. We all agree on the urgency of achieving our objective. It’s time that we all pull together to be part of the solution.”
Fulmer knows exactly what this program and University needs to get back to the glory days of chanting It’s Great to be a Tennessee Vol. Vol Nation trust Fulmer. The welcome back home press conference was raw and emotional. It was everything that Vol Nation needed to hear and everything that we believe in. “Let’s go have fun winning championships” wasn’t just a closing, it was a promise. It’s not going to happen overnight, but the Vols are coming back! And we really mean it this time!
Fulmer wasted no time in the coaching search and on December 7th, Jeremy Pruitt, the former Alabama defensive coordinator was hired as the next head coach at the University of Tennessee. There isn’t a more accurate statement in college football than; no one likes Alabama until you need a coach. Welcome to Knoxville, Coach Pruitt!
It’s no secret how little love Fulmer has for Alabama. Fulmer dominated Bama ten times in 12 years from 1995-2006. Fulmer not only wants to compete for Championships, but he wants to beat the Tide more than any other team. Coach Pruitt will be the first Bama coordinator to take over as a head coach at a program that will play Alabama every year. UT is going to be the one smoking cigars. It may not be next year, but the Tide is going to turn and UT will ride that wave back to winning another National Championship!