Phillip Fulmer

Fulmer was the Volunteers' 22nd head football coach.

At the end of his tenure at Tennessee, Fulmer had the second-highest number of wins of any head coach in Tennessee history, 21 behind Robert Neyland.

Fulmer also was the third coach in Tennessee history to win a claimed national championship.

Phillip Edward Fulmer Sr. (born September 1, 1950) is a former American football player, coach, and athletic director at the University of Tennessee.

Fulmer enrolled at the University of Tennessee as a student in 1968.

He promptly joined the football team as an offensive guard and would later be named as a co-captain.

While playing for the Volunteers, Fulmer garnered All-Southeastern Conference honors at offensive guard.

Fulmer contributed to Tennessee's 30–5 record from 1969 to 1971, where he played for head coaches Doug Dickey (who returned to Tennessee as athletic director and hired Fulmer as the Volunteers' coach) and Bill Battle.

The Volunteers captured the SEC championship with a 9–2 record in 1969, went 11–1 and won the Sugar Bowl in 1970, and finished as Liberty Bowl champions with a 10–2 record in 1971.

Fulmer served as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator for the Vols freshman team in 1973 before moving to Wichita State University the following season.

He spent five years at Wichita State, where he coached the offensive line in 1974 and 1977–1978 and served as linebacker coach in 1975–1976.

He followed those years with a one-season stint at Vanderbilt, serving as an assistant to Commodores head coach George MacIntyre.

Beginning in 1980, Fulmer served 13 years as a Vols assistant coach, initially as the offensive line coach, and then as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

Linemen coached by Fulmer during this period include Bill Mayo, Raleigh McKenzie, Bruce Wilkerson, Harry Galbreath, Charles McRae, Antone Davis, and Tom Myslinski.

He served as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1992 to 2008, compiling a 152–52 record.

Johnny Majors was the coach of the Volunteers going into the 1992 season.

However, a couple of weeks before the first game, Majors underwent quintuple-bypass heart surgery.

Fulmer took over the role as interim head coach with Heath Shuler as his quarterback.

Fulmer helped lead the team to a 3–0 start with a 38–3 victory over Southwestern Louisiana, a 34–31 victory over #14 Georgia, and a 31–14 victory over #4 Florida.

Majors returned for the Cincinnati game, a 40–0 victory, and the LSU game, a 20–0 victory.

However, the Vols dropped their next three games, a 25–24 loss to Arkansas, a 17–10 loss to #4 Alabama, and a 24–23 loss to South Carolina.

Among growing dissent among the fanbase, Majors resigned due to his contract being bought out and Fulmer became the 20th head football coach in Tennessee history at the end of the season.

The team recorded three wins, a 26–21 victory over Memphis, a 34–13 victory over Kentucky, a 29–25 victory over Vanderbilt to close out the regular season.

The team recorded a 38–23 victory over #16 Boston College in the Hall of Fame Bowl to finish with a 9–3 record and a #12 ranking in the AP Poll.

Going into his first full season as the Vols' head coach, Fulmer's Vols were ranked #10 going into the season opener against Louisiana Tech.

On September 4, the Vols defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 50–0.

The next week, the Vols defeated the #22 Georgia Bulldogs by a score of 38–6.

The first setback came in the next game against #9 Florida, a 41–34 loss in The Swamp.

The Vols won their next three games, a 42–20 victory over LSU, a 52–19 victory over Duke, and a 28–14 victory over Arkansas to move to a 5–1 record.

The next game, against #3 Alabama, was a rare 17–17 tie.

Fulmer led the team to victories in the next four games against South Carolina, #13 Louisville, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt to finish the regular season with a 9–1–1 record.

His 1997 and 1998 teams won consecutive SEC championships.

Despite a decline in the later years of his career, he is considered to be an icon of Tennessee football, noted for his loyalty to the institution.

He is best known for coaching the Volunteers in the first BCS National Championship Game in 1998, defeating the Florida State Seminoles.

In recognition of his accomplishments at Tennessee, Fulmer was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Fulmer served as a special assistant to the athletic director at East Tennessee State University.

On June 20, 2017, Fulmer was named as a special advisor to the University of Tennessee president.

On December 1, 2017, Fulmer became the athletic director at the University of Tennessee, a position he held until his retirement in 2021.

Fulmer was born in Winchester, Tennessee, where he attended Franklin County High School.

While at Franklin, Fulmer played football and starred for the Rebels.