Intriguing Possibility: Phil Fulmer to Notre Dame

December 4, 2009 By 11 Comments

Caught this blurb today at the Sun-Times, regarding the potential candidacy of former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer for the opening at Notre Dame:

Phil Fulmer, the longtime Tennessee coach who was forced to step down last season, would like to return to college coaching, and a jobs he covets is at Notre Dame.

Whether the interest is mutual remains to be seen as Notre Dame’s coaching search continued Thursday.

This is the first I’ve heard of this, and who knows if it has any legs at all, but I think Notre Dame would be foolish if they didn’t at least take a look at an experienced coach from a big conference with a winning percentage of about .750 and a national championship on his resume.

Can any of Notre Dame’s other candidates boast that?

Also interesting is this piece from August of this year, before the season even started, in which Fulmer’s name is posited as a great choice for the Irish should Charlie Weis get fired. Here is an excerpt:

It leaves Notre Dame looking for a PROVEN coach who has won on a national stage. It leaves Notre Dame looking for someone who has played well against tough competition, learned from a lifetime of occasional mistakes, can recruit with any other coach in the country, has the name recognition and contacts to assemble a top notch staff (see Rodney Garner as OC and Recruiting Coordinator perhaps), and someone that knows how to coach, and what to expect at a tradition-rich university. Notre Dame’s decline has even been tied to awful offensive line play. Guess which position is Fulmer’s specialty.

phil-fulmer-notre-dameAs a Tennessee fan myself, I can say that while I think it was probably time to part ways, Fulmer’s tenure in Knoxville was one of the most underappreciated runs of coaching success over the past three decades. Up until the last few years, when Urban Meyer and Nick Saban took over the conference, Fulmer consistently had the Vols competing for SEC titles.

Even his worst years in Tennessee would be improvements for Notre Dame at this point, and Fulmer has already proven how high the ceiling is.

With names like Stoops and Kelly dominating the Notre Dame talk, Fulmer is an interesting darkhorse candidate. If Jack Swarbrick and the powers that be in South Bend don’t at least sniff around the former Vol coach, I think they’d be doing a disservice to the program. Just because he’s a darkhorse doesn’t mean he is not a good candidate for the job.

Who knows, depending on who the final candidates end up being, Fulmer could very well be the best man for the job, whether Swarbrick and Co. see it or not.

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Filed Under: CFB Tagged With: notre dame coaching rumors, phil fulmer, phil fulmer notre dame, tennessee volunteers
About Jerod Morris

A proud graduate of Indiana University, Jerod Morris founded Midwest Sports Fans in August of 2008 and has been its Managing Editor every day since. Follow him on Twitter (@JerodMorris) for MSF updates, sports discussion, and a compelling daily assortment of funny and interesting links.
In addition to his work at MSF, Jerod hosts the fast-growing Indiana basketball postgame show The Assembly Call and provides regular music recommendations at IndieChristmas.com. He also helped develop the Synthesis Managed WordPress Hosting platform on which MSF and all of his other sites are run.

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  • Odieholtz

    I had rather slowly choke to death on my own vomit than to have "Fat Phil" running the program at ND. I am from Tennessee and can't stand the Vols because of him. He runs a dirty program, has no imagination when it comes to play calling, hires bad assistants, is only a marginal recruiter and his kids don't graduate.

    Other than that he would be a great fit at ND.

    Go hire Butch Davis if you want a coach with a National Title.

  • http://www.doreposts.com/ Eric

    This is a really interesting option. As a Vanderbilt fan, I'm all too familiar with Mr. Fulmer. I would like to see him at ND and think he would do a decent job. Of course, they have to make runs at Stoops/Meyer/Kelley, but they could do a lot worse.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/JerodMSF JerodMSF

    Care to discuss the "dirty program" angle a little further? I agree on his lack of imagination on offense — Fulmer is still from the "3 yards and a cloud of dust" school — but I don't know that I'd say his program is any more or less dirty than any other major college football programs. To what are you referring?

  • Odieholtz

    Being form Tennessee, you hear of all of the indescretions from the program. We are less than 2 years away from what at the time was a major cheating scandal involving the student athletes. They had a kid walking down the street in his underwear claiming to be God. Repeated dismissals for theft, assault and DUI.

    The disturbing part of his behavior is his lack of concern about it and his unwillingness to suspend players or kick them off of the team.

    Why do you think that Lane Kiffin was so quick to kick 2 players off of the team this year? He knew that he had no choice because of Fulmer's "legacy". If Fulmer was still there, I would but willing to bet those kids would still be playing until they went to jail.

  • John

    "Being form Tennessee, you hear of all of the indescretions from the program. We are less than 2 years away from what at the time was a major cheating scandal involving the student athletes. They had a kid walking down the street in his underwear claiming to be God. Repeated dismissals for theft, assault and DUI.

    The disturbing part of his behavior is his lack of concern about it and his unwillingness to suspend players or kick them off of the team.

    Why do you think that Lane Kiffin was so quick to kick 2 players off of the team this year? He knew that he had no choice because of Fulmer's "legacy". If Fulmer was still there, I would but willing to bet those kids would still be playing until they went to jail."

    My brother actually played at Tennessee and the only negative thing about
    Phil is his loyalty to his players, it was his great fault. He has always ran a clean program, that it what he was known for. If you were from Tennessee, you should be better informed. The kid in his underwear shouting he was God, is actually a Florida State player who came back from Bonnaroo, a "woodstock size" concert in Tennessee. I doubt Phil had anything to do with that!

  • http://www.seviercorruption.com ICall

    While Phat Phil was still coaching at Tn, he built a home on Hwy 416 in Pittman Center TN. He proved to me he is dirty in his personal life when he got the Tennessee Department of Transportation to do excavation work so he could get his big oversized Truck in and out of his driveway onto the road.

    If he will cheat like that with public funds, he is dirty all the way around.

  • billbill

    I have hopes of Coach Fulmer coaching again. I am a life long Tennessee Vol. I am disturbed how he was treated, especially given his allegiance to Tennessee. At least he wasn't traitor to his commitment like Saban, Petrino, Rodrigez!!
    But the last place I wanted him to go besides, Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Penn State, or Ohio State, is Notre Dame.
    I will also say this, the one game I would not mind seeing the vols lose "just once" is to a Fulmer coached team. After that good luck Caiach Fulmer.

  • Guest

    That was Florida State (cheating, kid claiming to be God – Wyatt Sexton, who was Jeff Sexton's son [an assistant coach there] and he had lyme disease you prick), yes there were criminal issues, but no worse than those of UCLA, Florida or Texas. As a Tennessean you should know SOMETHING about what you're saying before you run your mouth. I'm not a huge Fulmer fan, but you are dead wrong about nearly everything you say. Graduation rates are fine, and better than most competitive programs. Your information is poorly-researched, which is dangerous and incorrect to be spreading about. Say what you want, just make sure it's factual, unlike NDs count of national championships.

  • IrishRaj

    The reason this wont happen is "graduation rates". ND prides itself on leading the NCAA in GPA and graduation rates each year. Fulmers last two seasons had roughly a 50% graduation rate.

    Regarldess of all other qualifications, that in itself is a deal breaker.

  • guest

    We'll take Phil in Louisville