Volunteer fans, take a moment to catch your breath and step back from the ledge. Look on the bright side:

(…looking for the bright side…)

(…still looking for bright side…)

(…desperately trying to find anything that even closely resembles a bright side…)

Umm…we have Eric Berry?

The play of Tennessee’s sophomore defensive back Eric Berry has been about the only bright side thus far in a 2008 season of horrors for the Tennessee Volunteers and the Rocky Top faithful. In fact, the defense has played relatively well this season, somewhat keeping the Volunteers within shouting distance of some pretty stiff competition (Florida, Auburn, Georgia) that they have encountered thus far in the season. However, with the complete ineptitude of Tennessee’s offense, a 7-point deficit feels like a 28-point gap.

This is quite possibly the lowest point I have experienced since signing up to be a Tennessee fan when I fell in love with the play of a young Peyton Manning back in 1995. Overall, the last 13 years have been pretty solid. The Vols won a national title in 1998, they have won a few SEC titles, won the SEC East five times, and always provided fans with hope at the beginning of the year that they could compete for the SEC crown, and usually carried that hope through at least late November.

Not this year. Currently sitting square in the cellar of the SEC East, below even Kentucky, the Volunteers have officially hit rock bottom. And it begs the question: is it time for head coach Philip Fulmer to go?

I have always been a supporter of Philip Fulmer, even during some of the Vols’ struggles over the past few years. At the end of the day, the man has led Tennessee to a national title, has won Coach of the Year, has won better than 75% of his games (coming into this season…not sure if that’s still true), and he has been loyal to Rocky Top his entire life, both playing and coaching for the Volunteers. It would certainly be strange to see someone else strolling the sidelines at Neyland Stadium, and unfortunate considering the lifetime commitment that Philip Fulmer has given to the University of Tennessee.

But for the good of the program I have finally flipped my opinion: it is time for Philip Fulmer to go.

I don’t even think this is necessarily a negative reflection on Fulmer. I just think that with the way college football and all big-time sports are these days, coaches only have a certain amount of shelf life at one university or organization. Coaches can fall into ruts, they fail to adjust, they get too comfortable. On the same token, fans get overzealous in their expectations and become frustratingly impatient. I believe that all of these symptoms plague the Tennessee Volunteer football program right now, and that both Philip Fulmer and Tennessee could benefit from an unfortunate but necessary parting of the ways.

The current state of Tennessee football reminds me of Ohio State in the 1990s under John Cooper. Always solid, usually competitive in its conference, and for the most part pretty talented. John Cooper even had his signature moment winning the Rose Bowl with Joe Germaine at QB (how ’bout a guy from Scottsdale, Arizona!) and was typically just good enough not to get fired. Once Ohio State did pull the plug, and hired a then-unknown Division 1-AA coach named Jim Tressel, they immediately became an almost annual National Title contender. Will the Volunteers encounter same good fortune if they go in a different direction? No, not necessarily; but it is hard to dispute that a new direction is not imperative at this point. There really are not any signs to point to that things will turn around any time soon.

Tennessee needs fresh blood. They need a young, excited (and exciting) coach to blaze a new recruiting trail and improve the diminishing talent level that defines the Tennessee roster. Remember 1998? Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, Donte Stallworth, Peerless Price, Marcus Nash, Albert Haynesworth, John Henderson, Leonard Little, Al Wilson, Deon Grant…I mean, the talent was unbelievable. And the year before, Peyton Manning was the QB! In hindsight, it’s almost inconceivable that Tennessee didn’t win back-to-back titles, and that they had to be the darlings of fortune just to stay undefeated in 1998 (Clint Stoerner’s fumble anyone?).

The talent level has dropped off significantly over the past few years, while occurrences of players getting into trouble has increased. This lack of discipline off the field has also seeped into the on-field play, as Tennessee consistently commits untimely and just plain dumb penalties. I realize that recruiting is an inexact science, but program discipline is not. Tennessee is not a disciplined a program, and they have not been a talented one in many years; and with respect to talent, it’s all relative. If Tennessee were in the Big Ten, they might have played in a few championship games since 1998 and won more conference titles.

But Tennessee plays in the SEC and has fallen significantly behind the curve. It used to be that only Steve Spurrier could be considered a better coach than Philip Fulmer in America’s best conference. Now, all of the following can lay claim to superseding Phil Fulmer on the list of the SEC’s best coaches: Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Ego-maniac-crybaby Meyer (left), Mark Richt, and Fulmer’s old nemesis Steve Spurrier. Heck, Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson, Tommy Tuberville, and Houston Nutt have all had more success recently. And though Arkansas is struggling this year, their snake-in-the-grass-liar-ass-clown coach Bobby Petrino succeeded at Louisville and probably will win at Arkansas before screwing Hog nation over at some point.

There are plenty of young, up-and-coming coaches who would probably jump at the chance to coach for a school with the potential for success and fan base that Tennessee enjoys. And there are plenty of solid programs who would probably jump at the chance to have a coach like Philip Fulmer and offer him a chance at redemption. I realize Philip Fulmer has been an SEC guy his entire life, but he seems to coach more like a Big Ten guy to me. Perhaps a team in the ACC or Big East would want a very competent and accomplished coach like Phil Fulmer. I don’t see why not. Philip Fulmer is a very good coach, but he has allowed the Tennessee program to grow stale.

In the SEC, there is not time and not patience for periods of stale years. Alabama went through it, but then sold their soul to bring in that devil of a college coaching genius Nick Saban. A year and a half later, Alabama is the #1 team in the country. Sure, they had to sell their soul; but winning in the SEC requires it. Sadly, that’s why you have to consider Arkansas a threat in the coming years.

Getting rid of a good man and a good coach like Philip Fulmer could very reasonably be considered removing the man who has been heart and soul of a very solid era of Tennessee football for more than two decades. Sadly, the next two decades could be decidedly more mediocre, and Philip Fulmer’s life unquestionably less pleasant, if a change is not made.

I grew up in a college football coaching family. My dad was both an assistant and a coordinator in the Big Ten, so I appreciate the pressure, the ups and downs, and the sometimes frustrating reality of your success or failure being dependent on the whims of college kids. (I was also recently a college kid myself, so I certainly understand how mentally and emotionally inconsistent people of that age can be.) I think that part of my unyielding support for Phil Fulmer has been partly based on being predisposed to always support coaches, having grown up in that environment.

Coach Fulmer, you’ve been a great asset to the University of Tennessee coach Fulmer, and it really is not fair that fans and the media focus only on the immediate results and not on your lifetime of service to Tennessee. It’s not fair, it’s just the reality of life as a head coach in the SEC. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that for your own sake, and for the sake of the Volunteer football program, the time is nigh for a new leader on Rocky Top.

[tags]college football, tennessee volunteers, rocky top, philip fulmer, Southeastern Conference[/tags]