When it comes to hiring head coaches and judging which side is best able to negotiate terms, I’m a big believer is studying the tea leaves for leverage. Sure, a coaching job is coveted, but some jobs are more desirable than others. Kirby and his agent did an excellent job wringing a level of support from an athletic department that had a track record of stinginess; you won’t convince me that was due to anything other than that McGarity was negotiating from a level of relative weakness.
Now, turn your lonely eyes to Knoxville, where Jeremy Pruitt is just beginning to embark on his journey as Tennessee’s new head coach. Given the debacle of the Vols’ coaching search, as well as Jimmy Sexton’s obvious gifts for negotiation, it’s easy to assume that Pruitt came out on top.
Easy, though, may not be right in this case. Dial up this clip to the 2:20 mark (h/t AirForceDawg) and listen to what Phil Fulmer’s been up to since he got his man:
Yep. Phil Fulmer — Fulmer the AD, not the coach — is actively recruiting again. I wonder how that’s sitting with Pruitt. (Well, actually, I don’t wonder all that much.)
I’m really looking forward to watching this relationship pan out over the next two years.
Get The Picture 
Phat Phil and Corch Corny Conehead is a match made in Hell…
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He sounded like an old coach who was back as head coach.
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How does a new AD responsible for “all’ sports programs at a major university find the time to recruit? Perhaps the dumpster fire is not finished burning. What planet is this man living on?
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It’s an excellent question, or at least it should be a relevant one. Right now, though, if you polled the UT fan base, I bet you’d find the vast majority are all in on this. For the moment, football is what matters in Knoxville.
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Are AD’s allowed to recruit?
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That’s my question as well. I’ve always thought only the on the field coaches were allowed on the road to recruit.
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Maybe Phil is planning to be an “on the field coach”….man, I hope so!
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Has Crazy Pruitt explained to Phat Phil yet that he (Pruitt) is in charge and Foolmer will take orders from him, effective immediately? I understand the fan is totally behind their new AD, and their new coach, but this is a zero sum game with Pruitt involved. Sparks will always be flying, and underlings will be cowering. CJP sees every situation as a cage match, unless Little Nicky did some “Stepford procedure” on Conehead over the past 2 years.
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Seems like a reasonable idea to me given all the circumstances.
CJP has at least one more game to coach. Fulmer’s program recruited very well when he was coaching. I’m assuming he played some role in that success. You also have the early signing period coming up quick.
No reason to think this wasn’t a mutual decision. They’ve got a couple of big time recruits, specifically Cade Mays, that we’re trying to snatch out of there. Make sense to do all they can to have a successful 2018 haul.
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same. Fulmer making some phone calls to settle things down seems like a good idea.
I assure everyone that ADGM is currently making recruiting calls to wallets for the upcoming contracts extensions.
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exactly…..little late this year, but you just know that they will be hitting Georgia hard in the future. Fulmer sure did as a coach, just take a look at his roster in ’97. A bunch of key players that led them to the MNC. As far as Pruitt and Fulmer getting along…they know what is at stake, they have no choice but to work with each other. I hate TN too (least favorite team), but too much exaggeration in the two getting along….more “wishful thinking” imo.
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Wow, this is really going to be something to watch.
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This is what makes the Pruitt hire so fantastic. Is he going to get some players? Yep. He’s also going to run some off. Is he going to improve them on defense? For sure. He’s a hell of a coach. Is he going to abide an AD who allegedly and by all signs is going to be heavily involved in the football program? He ain’t y’all. He might try to be cool for awhile, but they’ll lose games next year and there’s a reason JP jumps from job to job almost every year. They won’t get half-way through the season before the tension and drama between PF and JP will distract Tennessee. It really could only happen to one other more deserving bunch, but I’ll take continued chaos in Knoxville, thanks.
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Phil will step aside when the orange hits the fan. There’s no way that fan base is going to imperil a hire that was this excruciating to complete. While the dumpster is still smoldering, everybody in them thar hills is fat, dumb and happy, but when the flames re-erupt they will throw Phil under a bus, (if the bus has high enough suspension).
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Well……. injecting collagen lip-filler and surgically reshaping the ass of a sock whore doesn’t change the fact she still deducts bed springs as a business expense. Pruitt and Fulmer are cosmetic coverups for a program still plunging into a 300′ ravine of darkness and desperation. They are the Mary Kay of CFB and should be required to drive the symbolic pink Cadillac to the recruiting visits. Pruitt should be on maintenance Haldol with extra doses prn. Fulmer needs to discontinue the medication resulting in his hallucinations and return to 2017………I honestly didn’t consider Fulmer as such an active variable in the post-Butch UT chaos. But now it seems like UT has exceeded everyone’s expectations once again and is pretending to be able to write a 1990’s script hoping it will play in 2018. This is a two-year ‘jelly-of-the-month’ caliber gift, Vols…this is a UT trademark alcohol enema Vaseline party…. thanks. Final predictions: 3 OC’s in the first 2.5 years, Pruitt in anger management within 18 months, Pruitt gone in 4 years and will not get another P5 HC job for a decade. Pruitt and Muschamp bite each other’s 5th finger off before the UT USCe game in 2018 while fighting over one of Muschamp’s extra Xanax tabs.
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steve, you certainly have a unique way of making a point! Nicely played!
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This…is…wonderful.
The timeline of this soap opera is mesmerizing:
– Booch fired
– Fairly New AD (with history of hostility) finds his candidate and offers him the job
-Fan base hates the hire and uses candidates’ very distant past as an excuse to burn couches in effigy
-Fairly New AD recants offer and puts University in financial pickle (one they cannot afford) and loses all respect among fan base
-School Icon sits in corner throwing sand in the gears, causing AD to get fired so he can swoop in and save the day and be the new AD
-Icon (now acting AD) does ABSOLUTELY NO DUE DILIGENCE and hires the most volatile coach in the SEC (with no HC experience) to return the program to the glory days.
-New HC first major hire is to bring in the worst OL coach I’ve ever seen as his OC.
You can’t make this stuff up.
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If there isnt a fistfight in Fulmers kitchen I’ll be disappointed.What do Fulmers daughters look like anyway?
Only kidding.
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That right there was Revelation for college football.
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also is there a test that you have to take to recruit football players?
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Yes. It’s a certification test. You have to know the NCAA rules, or they won’t let you recruit.
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Betting a tutor took that test for him. Foolmer still doesn’t have a great tale to tell recruits. A part time coordinator, with 4 jobs in the last five years, taking over a program that didn’t win a conference game last year, and hasn’t won an SEC title in 20 years. Oh, and the school isn’t located near any other recruit you know and the fans boo you as you leave the field. And that new coach, he is the 6th coach in the past 11 years, should fit the new guy’s exit schedule if things blow up.
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Unless you are a full-time coach, I didn’t think you could leave campus to recruit.
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The opportunities for another soap opera at Tennessee are huge. A Dallas “Who shot J.R.?” type of potboiler.
Those two are gonna clash and it will be public
. Get yer popcorn ready.
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