17 seasons as head coach, a National Championship in 1998 and 150-51 record. They look like numbers that are of success, and would give someone job security. Instead, all it has done is get Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer fired. The Vols are going through their worst season under Fulmer. They're 3-6 and 1-5 in the SEC. Those numbers aren't going to fly in Knoxville, where football isn't a sport but rather a religon. Fulmer gave is heart and soul to this program, as a player, assistant coach and now head coach. But at 58, his employer feels what Fulmer did in the past is in the past and what he's done lately isn't cutting it.
It's unfortunate that we don't look at a person who has worked at a school, team or even a company and evaluate an entire body of work, that one day you could be the best thing ever; helping build or create success for a team, and the next day you find yourself, not doing enough, and out the door. What does it say about us as a country? How we are so focused on the here and now and the very moment. Are people not able to ever make mistakes or have a bad year?
I always felt the Steelers did it right. Bill Cowher had good years, great years, and some bad years, but in the end he won a Super Bowl and went out on his own terms. How about Florida State? Bobby Bowden has had plenty of critics but the school knows overall that they're better off with Bowden than without him. Now Jimbo Fisher will smoothly take over too. Joe Paterno at Penn State. When Joe Pa had some bad years recently, there were plenty calling for his head. Instead he promptly went out and then won an Orange Bowl against Bowden and this year the team could be playing for a National Championship.
So let's not give up on someone that has given everything and has been winning over the entire course of his career. It's almost as if Fulmer was a victim of his own success. He wasn't able to duplicate the great seasons he had in the late 90's. Now Fulmer is just a victim of losing a job, and it's a bad economy.