For old-time Southeastern Conference football fans, there is no better and bigger rivalry than Tennessee versus Alabama. Down through the years, season after season, these are the two teams that have been the class of the SEC.

That's one reason that it's sad that this has become such a bitter rivalry. It has always been played cleanly and with great sportsmanship on the field. However, due to the NCAA probe that resulted in sanctions for recruiting violations against Bama and finger-pointing from various individuals in Alabama at Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer for his role in the investigation, it has degenerated into a nasty series with unwarranted name-calling on both sides.

Over the years, Bear Bryant admitted to being one of the biggest cheaters in college football history. He did so in his own books and his own pronouncements to others.

Bear was a good motivator. However, his championships were tainted by the fact that he bought players and broke the spirit if not the letter of many NCAA rules, many of which had to be changed to keep him from continuing to do so. For example, when scholarship limits were put in place, Bear was famous for recruiting over the limit and putting them on scholarships in other sports until the NCAA put a stop to that.

Since Bear retired after losing to Tennessee in 1982 and then died a few short weeks later, the Tide has never been able to recapture the magic he brought to Tuscaloosa. They have gone through coaches faster than the Tennessee River flows through the state of Alabama.

The record speaks for itself. Tennessee has dominated the series for over two decades now. Bear's hand-picked successor, Ray Perkins, left after four seasons and after losing three out of four to the Vols. Bill Curry, who was brought in with a package deal that included Athletics Director Steve Sloan, was never accepted by the Bama family and left, even though he beat UT all three years he was at the helm.

Enter Gene Stallings, who won a national championship for the Tide, but knowingly played an ineligible Antonio Langham right after that, causing Bama to have to forfeit an entire season's worth of games. That was evidence enough that the cheating was still continuing in Tuscaloosa, and resulted in NCAA sanctions. Stallings won his first three against Tennessee, had to forfeit the tie he got in 1993, and then posted another win before he lost his last two to the Vols before quitting.

Mike DuBose, who had undoubtedly the most openly scandal-ridden regime of all, was never able to muster a win over UT in his four years there. Dennis Franchione won one and lost one. Mike Price didn't make it onto the field due to an embarrassing off-field incident with a stripper at a bar, and Mike Shula, who was the Bama Quarterback that threw the interception that got Bama beat in the 1985 UT game at Birmingham's Legion Field, was winless until this year in two tries against the Vols as their head coach.

Tennessee has done very well in Tuscaloosa, having not lost a game there since 1913 until this season. In fact, their four-game win streak on the Tide campus was the longest in the history of the school. Of course, Bama played most of their big games for years in Birmingham, but no one has had the success against them that UT has.

Coach Phillip Fulmer, who many Tide fans inexplicably vilify and blame for their own troubles, has had enormous success against them, winning 9 of his last 11. It is understandable that Fulmer has become an easy target for fans' wrath, but it is more misplaced than anything else. No other UT coach ever had as many wins against Bama since General Neyland, who recorded 12. Fulmer can hit double digits in his own personal win column over Bama with a win this coming season in Knoxville.

As the leaves turn a bright orange and crimson in the Great Smoky Mountains, as sure as the third Saturday in October comes up on the calendar, it's time for the most storied rivalry in the South. This one was to be preserved at all costs on an annual basis when the SEC split into two divisions. The football season simply wouldn't be the same without this yearly affair which has become the measuring stick for greatness and supremacy on the Southern gridiron. Don't let anyone else kid you. While the Georgia-Auburn game may be the oldest rivalry, there is none bigger than Tennessee-Alabama. All of the others are pretenders and Johnny-come-latelies to this one. It is the highest holy day of the year in a region that views football as a religion and a way of life.

Even though they lost to Bama this year, UT can look forward to more prosperity down the line in this series. It was Alabama's best chance to beat UT for the rest of the decade, and it may very well have been Shula's one and only real chance to do so. The Tide will suffer decimating losses to their talent after this season. They will be hard-pressed in 2006 to have a winning year.

Sadly, even though Alabama was once revered as one of the top names in college football, they will be an also-ran in the SEC as long as they abide by the rules. Rarely will they challenge for championships, as they simply cannot compete with rejuvenated programs at Auburn and LSU, and the annual beasts of the SEC East, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia. Even the Mississippi schools will give Bama fits over the next few years.

Savor and enjoy Bama Week annually. It only comes once a year. It is the premier game of the season for everyone who truly loves Southern football.

One of the biggest problems in the wacky world of recruiting intercollegiate athletes these days are parents who inject themselves and their agendas into the process. Last year's public comments by Tyler Smith's father and Jamont Gordon's mother are just recent examples of that, as far as Tennessee basketball players are concerned.

While it can be argued that Bruce Pearl and his new staff didn't close the deal on retaining Smith and inking Gordon in their short time of less than a month on The University of Tennessee campus, just as Jerry Green and Chris Ferguson did when they had to re-recruit Tony Harris out of Memphis after Kevin O'Neill flew away to Northwestern, it is clear that there was a lot more that happened behind the scenes in the recruiting of these two fine hoopsters.

We have seen this before in football. We need look no further than the recent fiascos in which Eric Locke's father and C.J. Leak's father made disparaging comments about the winningest head football coach in America to see what red flags grow up when the parents start talking to the media. Not long before that, there were plenty of negative remarks made by Branndon Stewart's father before he transferred to Texas A&M.

Generally, anytime you have parents who start running down the program or the coaching staff, it is a red flag that no matter what happens, problems are going to result down the road. Either the school isn't going to sign the player, he winds up being a discipline problem, or he transfers to another school. In any event, the scholarship is wasted, no matter how much talent the athletes have.

A lot of times you have former athletes who are trying to live their own failed dreams through their sons. Other times you have parents who are looking for a handout from a school that makes it clear to them that they aren't going to buy players and they are miffed as a result. In other situations, you have AAU coaches lurking in the shadows who have their own agenda for sending a player to a certain school, simply because they are being paid big bucks by shoe and apparel companies to send athletes there.

Jamont Gordon committed to Mississippi State on his first visit to Starkville, after leading U.T. to believe he was going to be a Vol. It is well known that MSU Head Coach Rick Stansberry is closely tied to AAU coaches. Some have even suggested that the Bulldogs indirectly buy their players, although no NCAA violations have yet been proven.

Tyler Smith really wanted to come to Knoxville. He would have honored his commitment had he not been unduly influenced by family and perhaps former coaches to sit out a year and go to a prep school. As a result, no one won. Smith lost the most in not being able to showcase his talents at a major Division 1 school.

Tennessee is a school that has existed for well over 200 years. Its basketball program has been competing for nearly a century. Whether the current coach signs a particular player is merely a blip on the radar screen in the big scheme of things.

Pearl will certainly upgrade the talent level at U.T. with the Top 10 class nationally that he has signed, a class that rivals the other two major programs on campus, football and women's basketball. More importantly, he is making the existing talent work harder and play better with his discipline both on and off the court and his style of play.

It was a bad decision by Buzz Peterson to re-hire Chuck Benson. It was a good long-term decision by Pearl not to retain him, whatever the short-term fallout may be. Jerry Green ran Benson out of his office when his father Charlie, who was once involved with the Ray Blanton administration in Nashville, and is arguably the most powerful AAU coach in the state, tried to get him to take him on at that time. Benson had already been a part of the failed Wade Houston regime. No school should be beholden to or held hostage by any AAU program.

Jamont Gordon will lose more games to UT than he will win during his time at MSU. The Vols will generally out-perform the Bulldogs in the SEC. Wherever Smith winds up, the sooner he emerges from the shadows and stands on his own two feet, makes his own decisions, and becomes the man he should be now that he is an adult, he will be better off in every way.

For now, it should remain clear that once parents start giving interviews to everyone who sticks a microphone in their face, calls them on the phone, or knocks on their door, and use such platforms to run down those who are recruiting their sons, it is time to run, not walk, the other way from such families. While the parents may feel like they have their child's best interest at heart, they are doing far more damage to themselves and everyone else in the process by speaking out in a negative way.

Inflated egos from some who in some cases never attended college or finished with a degree, a desire to put themselves into the limelight in their only moment in the media sun, and simple bad judgment have no place in the process. Most of the athletes are smarter than their parents in these situations. They can discern who is sincere and who isn't on the recruiting trail, who will discipline them and who is merely pandering.

The weeping and wailing over the loss of a recruit has gone to a ridiculous level. Many recruits simply don't pan out for many reasons, academics, injury, and dedication. Some simply are over-rated. No player, or players, will make or break a big-time program.

Sure, Tennessee would be much better on paper with either or both of Gordon or Smith. However, they will be fine without them, too, and if they became prima donnas, as often happens, they would be a minus to overall team chemistry anyway. Many feel that U.T. would have been better off had they let Tony Harris go his own way. I'm not sure I disagree.

On a sun-drenched day without a cloud in the sky, a crowd of over 100,000 clad in orange formed a sea of humanity on a September Saturday that washed away all of the bad news of the hurricane in New Orleans as Tennessee began its football season this fall. There was smooth sailing for the Vol Navy on the Tennessee River and Fort Loudon Lake. The temperature was perfect, around 80 degrees at kickoff, with a light breeze blowing throughout the day, and weather that made you wonder why anyone would want to live anywhere else.

 
While our neighbors on the Gulf were dealing with power outages, water and gasoline shortages, and unimaginable devastation of lives and property, you would never know or guess anything like that had ever happened at high and dry Neyland Stadium on The Hill in Knoxville. The protections afforded by the Great Smoky Mountains on the east and south, and the Cumberland Plateau on the north and west make the East Tennessee Valley the perfect place to be sheltered in God's loving arms in the midst of storms in other areas.

 
Walking onto the UT campus was an intoxicating tonic for those who were weary of dealing with or watching the bad news of the devastation. Even as refugees from the wilderness of swamps, mosquitos, sand, and oppressive heat and humidity poured into The Volunteer State to be treated by hospitals in all of Tennessee's cities and towns, football fans didn't let anything get in their way of being there in sellout numbers for the Vol Walk, the Pride of the Southland Band Salute to The Hill, the Kickoff Call-In Show broadcast to the statewide stadium on the Vol Network, and all of the other traditions of tailgating and fun that the Number One Gameday Experience in America (as voted by Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, and many others) entails.

 
What a contrast it was from the images of flooded streets, helicopter rescues, unsanitary conditions, demolished homes and businesses, closed highways, and the squalor and chaos of despair, to see the Big Orange flags flying high on all of the SUV's, custom vans, and convertibles that poured into town to celebrate an annual ritual of fall, the opening game of the college football season. You would never know that 600 miles away there had been any destruction at all.

 
As the Giant T opened to the roar of the crowd, it seemed the entrance of the team onto the field was a release of all of the pent-up tensions, emotions, and frustrations of the past several days. Fans had donated thousands of dollars to the Red Cross as they streamed through the gates of the cavernous stadium, the largest of its kind in the South.

 
In the aftermath of what is no doubt the greatest natural disaster ever recorded in the USA, it was heartening and encouraging to know that life goes on and that the enjoyment of Tennessee football is a pleasant diversion from the realities of life. There wasn't an empty seat anywhere, despite unfounded fears that a gas shortage might keep some people away. 

 
All is well in beautiful East Tennessee. A crowd of a quarter million people defied the doomsday predictions and came to see the largest fireworks display in the world, the annual Boomsday in downtown Knoxville on the river on Labor Day weekend. More than 90% of gas stations had plenty of fuel at reasonable prices, and the display of firepower showed there was no shortage of energy anywhere.

 
We are truly blessed to be able to live in such a wonderful place and to enjoy the bountiful benefits of our mountains, rivers, streams, woodlands, and farms. We can be thankful that the system of TVA dams that have been put in place generations ago protect us from flooding like New Orleans experienced and like Chattanooga once had to deal with before those dams were built. Why would anyone want to work and live anywhere else?

 
We opened our arms to all of those who were displaced by the hurricane to join us in this beautiful of all of God's creations and become a Tennessee Volunteer fan. There's plenty of room for those who want to have a Big Orange blood infusion and to restore their mind, body, and soul in wonderful East Tennessee.

Let's thank God for our bounty and be grateful that by His Grace we are all Volunteers. Let's show our spirit of love to those in need and gratitude that we were born in one of the safest and most lovely places on earth, a heavenly haven of peace, joy, and tranquility where crime is very low and violence is so rare it is almost non-existent.

Let's lead the nation out of its malaise and show them how our spirit is greater than any setbacks.

When Phillip Fulmer took over the reins of the Tennessee football program from Johnny Majors in 1992 temporarily and then full-time, he was hailed as a breath of fresh air, a players' coach who would make the game fun again. Now, 13 years later, after climbing to the lofty heights of back-to-back SEC championships in only six short years, the Vols are spiraling out of control toward their worst collapse in over two decades.

What went wrong during Fulmer's tenure and what needs to be done to fix things? Some have suggested that he needs to be far tougher on the players. However, that needs to be extended to the coaching staff as well.

Majors was a tough taskmaster, very demanding in his rebuilding of the program. Those of us who were around the Stokely Athletics Center complex at the time saw some assistant coaches come off the practice field, close the doors of their offices, and literally be in tears over the humiliation they suffered in front of their players during the week. Majors berated and tried to intimidate everyone he met.

However, Majors hired some of the best and brightest coaches in the nation to work for him. Many of them have gone on to be coordinators and head coaches in the NFL, and others have done well at other major college programs.

Fulmer, who was hired originally by Majors to coach the offensive line in 1980 and then was promoted by Majors to Offensive Coordinator in 1989, was and is everything that Majors wasn't. While Majors was the CEO of the program who left much of the preparation to his assistants, Fulmer is the micromanager who wants to be involved n every aspect of the program.

Fulmer's hires, on the other hand, have been less than stellar. Virtually none of them have gone on to better jobs. The ones that have left have many times wound up with only lateral or downward moves. The staff has become stale and stagnant.

Fulmer is a family man, raising three daughters and a son, and is a tireless recruiter that was doing a lot of Majors' work in that area before he was elevated to the head job. In fact, he may be the best recruiter who is a head coach in America. He relates well to both the young men he coaches and to their families while the recruiting process is going on.

Majors was aloof from his players, very similarly to the way General Neyland always was. However, if you talk to those who played for him, they will tell you that they still have a great deal of respect for him, just as those who played for Neyland did.

One of the things that has led to the decline of UT's football fortunes and the fact that they haven't won a championship of any kind since 1998 is that the respect that Majors commanded has been severely eroded during Fulmer's tenure on The Hill. The players have not been held accountable for their actions, either on or off the field. Practices aren't nearly as demanding as they used to be. Discipline has broken down in several ways. Mental toughness, concentration, and superior effort simply isn't there on gamedays, since it isn't required during the week.

The players' comments to the media reveal their frustration, but also are very telling in their lack of respect for their coaches. Even athletes who have a lot of talent crave discipline to make themselves better so that they can play at the next level.

However, Fulmer, while he is in charge and is ultimately responsible, is not due all of the blame. He has been let down bigtime by some of the assistant coaches on his staff, who have, in many ways, become fat, lazy, and happy with their big salaries and their comfortable jobs, knowing they wouldn't be fired by a lenient boss, no matter what.

No one can argue that Fulmer doesn't recruit the very best talent to play for him. However, it is equally true that he has not recruited the best talent to coach for him by any stretch of the imagination. For several seasons, he relied on out-talenting the competition, putting superior talent on the field and letting them simply overwhelm the opposition with their size, strength, speed, quickness, and skills. There were few games in which the staff actually out-coached the other side.

Now that other SEC brethren have upgraded the coaches at those schools, the going is a lot tougher for Fulmer. Mark Richt has replaced Ray Goff and Jim Donnan at Georgia. Urban Meyer replaced Ron Zook at Florida. Steve Spurrier is in and Lou Holtz out at South Carolina. All of those are upgrades to the Eastern Division of the conference, and Fulmer has a losing record against all of them.

On the other side, Nick Saban had Fulmer's number before he mercifully left LSU to go into the NFL. However, Tommy Tuberville at Auburn has consistently out-coached Fulmer, and Mike Shula may be getting ready to do so at Alabama.

The big impetus to get a new coaching staff on board for 2006 at UT is the daunting task that Fulmer faces next year. The home opener against California will be the toughest the Vols have had since 1994 when Florida beat Tennessee, 31-0. It won't get any easier when Florida comes to town two weeks later. The Georgia game in Athens will be as rough as ever.

Even with the addition of Air Force to the schedule, the Big Orange could easily be 3-3 again by the time Alabama comes to town on the third Saturday in October, and then they have to travel to Columbia to face a better South Carolina team than the one that beat them in Knoxville this season. LSU at home is next on the 2006 slate, and they will certainly be out to avenge the loss that may have cost them the national championship this year.

The Sugar Vols of 1985, who beat Miami (35-7) in the Sugar Bowl, were arguably Majors' finest team. They were honored this season on the 20th Anniversary of that epic win. However, the freshman class of 1985, which played from 1985 through 1988, had a winning percentage of only .677. That was the worst winning percentage of any class since the 1981 team in Majors' early years of rebuilding a program that had hit rock bottom in terms of talent under Bill Battle.

This year's graduating class, which will have played from 2002 through 2005, didn't have a winning percentage that good. Thus, they are below the 1985 freshman class in terms of their winning percentage and will go down in history as the worst UT class in 25 years.

Fulmer, whether he realizes it or not, has already spent the capital and the equity that he earned with his gaudy winning percentage from his early seasons and his 1998 National Championship. He took over a program already laden with talent that was poised for greatness. His days on The Hill are numbered if he doesn't lead a return to the winning ways of nearly a decade ago.

The bottom line is that Fulmer must replace some of his coaching staff with tougher, smarter, meaner, hungrier coaches who will demand and get better production out of their charges. Fulmer himself must be more demanding of his players on the practice field but also far more demanding of his staff in their closed door meetings.

Football is a game of toughness, both physical and mental. Tennessee simply has not been tough enough and disciplined enough to avoid penalties and execute the gameplans. The turnovers, miscues, special teams fiascos, and resulting losses can all be corrected with the proper hires.

Football is, however, also a game of momentum. Fulmer's career was on the upswing throughout the first half of it. In the last half of his time in charge, it has been on the downswing. He must get the momentum reversed. It will be a tougher challenge for him personally than he has ever faced.

Notre Dame provided Vol boosters and administrators of a good example of how important coaching is. They are a totally different team this year under Charlie Weis than they were under Ty Willingham. They have turned it around in a hurry. Spurrier is on his way to doing the same thing at South Carolina. Richt did it at Georgia. Meyer may do it at Florida. Shula seems to be doing it at Bama.

Fulmer has done half of the job and has lived large in the beginning, but just scraped by recently, with his recruiting for most of his career. A lot of us saw this year coming for the last several seasons, actually, and Fulmer could have and should have reacted much quicker to correct the problems. The problems were readily apparent in the collapse against LSU in the SEC title game in 2001. They were even more obvious in the back-to-back embarrassing Peach Bowl losses in 2002 and 2003 to inferior ACC teams.

Fulmer is still the man to right the ship. He will not be leaving or in any trouble himself unless next year provides the same results as this year. Instead of trying to be the anti-Majors, he must try to remake himself into someone who commands the respect that Majors once had.

It was a dark day at Tennessee when Majors was fired. While it was likely time to have him move into an administrative or fundraising role like he has now at Pittsburgh, and while he complained loudly about his salary, he did not deserve to be treated the way he was by the administration. UT is much bigger than any one man, and that includes both Majors and Fulmer.

Both Majors and Fulmer were great players in their days on The Hill. They are also very good coaches who have contributed greatly to the winning traditions established by General Neyland. Now is the time for healing to finally begin between the two men, between the school and its former coach, between the past and the present.

The University has the greatest responsibility to make this happen ultimately. While they have hosted Majors to honor him occasionally since he has been gone, the efforts haven't been enough. He is a former Heisman Trophy runner-up. He restored the fortunes of the Volunteers from depths they hadn't seen in two decades prior to his arrival. He left the program in good shape in terms of talent, success, and facilities.

Majors has been making the rounds of radio talk shows with his criticisms of Fulmer recently. He has been quoted as calling Fulmer "Judas Brutus" for his perceived disloyalty in sabotaging him, knifing him in the back, and taking his job. That doesn't do the school any good at all. It reflects badly on everyone, including him.

Tennessee needs a new start in every way to restore its fortunes and its cherished traditions of excellence both on and off the field of play. UT President John Petersen and Governor Phil Bredesen, Chairman of the UT Board of Trustees, both need to reach out to Majors and heal the rift that has existed for far too long. Whatever Majors was paid by UT as a fundraiser would be brought back in donations many times over. He can still and would be a great ambassador and statesmen for the Vols.

It's all about respect. Fulmer at one time respected his boss. Majors respected Fulmer enough to both hire and promote him. Both are deserving of more respect than either has given the other. Both certainly owe more respect to the Big Orange fans, boosters, and donors, and all Tennesseans, than they have given them.

Fulmer must reach out to others, hire better coaches, and be tougher. Majors must bury the hatchet, temper his anger, and soften his demeanor in a mature way befitting someone his age. Most of all, The University of Tennessee needs to see to it that both of these gentlemen cement a legacy that all Volunteers can be proud of.

It's time to unite the Vol family again. Only with such efforts can the football program, the athletics department, the University itself, and the entire state truly epitomize the high standards that were set for it by General Neyland 80 years ago, and rise to national prominence once again.