Tennessee Football: Phillip Fulmer Provides Good News For Vols

Phillip Fulmer was installed as the Tennessee Vols’ athletic director in early December.

Phillip Fulmer stepped in as the Tennessee Vols’ athletic director in early December with the idea that it was going to be a two year deal.

But that won’t be the case, according to a recent interview between Fulmer and WMNL’s Jimmy Hyams.

Fulmer wouldn’t commit to how long he plans on being Tennessee’s athletic director, but he estimated it would be five or six years. He added that it wouldn’t be fair to recently hired Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt to leave after two years.

(The legendary Vol coach also made sure to point out that he wouldn’t serve in the athletic director role for “20 years”.)

Fulmer coming back to serve as athletic director was great news for the Volunteers. It’s even better news that he’s going to stick around for longer than two years. Fulmer has already provided Tennessee with stability.

When Chancellor Davenport brought Fulmer into the fold in early December, Tennessee was, for lack of a better term, a dumpster fire. The football program, which thought it hit rock bottom in late 2012, had completely imploded.

Fulmer instantly brought a sense of comfort. A feeling that things were going to be ok.

It took Fulmer a matter of days to identify the right head coaching target and make a hire that somehow ended up being the best hire the Vols could’ve made (an incredible feat when you think about how close UT was to hiring Greg Schiano and Dave Doeren).

I don’t know how many games Tennessee will win over the next several years on the football field. And I don’t know how Pruitt will work out as a head coach.

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But I know I feel a whole lot better about the entire program with Fulmer looking over it.