The Controversy of the Tennessee Volunteers

If you live in the South and someone asks who the most controversial college football team in the country is, then they would probably answer Tennessee.  Yes, the Tennessee Volunteers have stirred the pot more than one occasion and their Head Coach Phil Fulmer has had more security than the President of the United States.  Why would a football program have so much controversy around it when it should just be a sport?  Let's explore the reasons for controversy.

Much of the controversy started when Johnny Majors was coach of the Vols.  Majors had some health issues, which turned the team over to then Interim Coach Fulmer.  After the season, Majors was canned and the job was given to Fulmer.  This shocked many people because Majors had so much history with the program.  Since then, Majors has been anything but a Fulmer fan.  Majors claims that Fulmer was a terrible offensive line coach and he came close to firing him on a few occasions.  He also claims to have sent him to other schools to learn how to coach.  Majors firmly believes that Fulmer went behind his back and tried to and eventually did steal his job by going to the athletic director to make his claim for the throne.  Whether or not any of this is true will always be a mystery, but other events could put merit in Majors' claims.

Shortly after Fulmer took the helm, it did not take him long to make enemies in the SEC.  The most historic is his feud with Alabama.  While Mike DuBose was coach of the Crimson Tide, Alabama got into a recruiting war with Tennessee, Arkansas, and Georgia over a lineman in Memphis, TN named Albert Means.  Means was Parade All-American and was one of the most heralded prospects in the country.  Means eventually committed to Alabama and the controversy began.  A booster for the Crimson Tide paid $100,000 to Means' high school coach to get him to sign with Alabama, which was pointed out to the NCAA by a "secret witness".  A few years later, Ronnie Cottrell, former assistant coach at Alabama, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for defamation of character, proclaiming he was the fall guy when he was innocent.  During the investigation, it was revealed that Phil Fulmer was the secret witness.  It all went down hill from there.

Apparently, Fulmer discovered that recruiting analyst Tom Culpepper had some information on the Tide and Culpepper was looking for someone to take care of him.  Fulmer promised to keep Culpepper's conversation with him private, but Fulmer was actually recording the conversation with a tape recorder.  I guess we did not realize football coaches could star on CSI.  In any event, Fulmer took the tape to the NCAA.  Sure, this seems to be a clear case of someone pointing out another school's violations, but many believe there were other motives.

Around the same time as the Alabama penalties were handed out, Tennessee was catching heat over the recruitment of QB Tee Martin.  Money was given to Martin so he would sign with the Vols, but the NCAA eventually dismissed it saying that the reporter that gave Martin the money was a "friend", so that was ok.  Many speculate Fulmer gained immunity from this with his information on the Tide.  Oh, and that leads the story back to Culpepper.  Fulmer said he would take care of Culpepper, but Culpepper ended up the fall guy in the defamation lawsuit issued by Cottrell.  All that can be said for that is ouch!

The scandal with Alabama rolled into Fulmer not showing for SEC Media Days a year ago, claiming to have received death threats from angry Alabama fans.  This year, Fulmer appeared at Media Days and even went to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama/Tennessee rivalry.  With Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in attendance for the coin toss, security was already elevated.  However, it was Fulmer, not Rice, requiring more help from local authorities for protection.  The Alabama/Tennessee rivalry will never be the same. 

Tennessee also found their way to a tutor scandal.  A professor at Tennessee revealed that tutors had been writing papers for football players and that many players were not even going to class.  Tennessee ended up firing the professor and once again dodged a NCAA bullet, which led people to once again proclaim that the NCAA was giving Fulmer deals for turning in other schools like Alabama. 

The controversies continued with players off the field.  Tennessee had almost as many players in jail at some point as they have had on the field.  This led to Fulmer and Steve Spurrier exchanging words after Fulmer made comments about South Carolina had some of the same behavioral problems with their players.   Fulmer and Spurrier publicly "made up", but many in the SEC will tell you that there is no love loss between these two high profile coaches.

This season, Tennessee had a losing record, which caused Fulmer to let go of long time assistant Randy Sanders.  Fulmer cited a need for more discipline for his team.  This caused Sanders to fire back.  Sanders made a statement saying discipline starts at the top and that he felt he administered as much discipline as he was allowed within the program.  Majors also had some words about discipline.  Majors said Fulmer never was good with handling problem athletes and the reason the Vols were losing and out of control is because they had no leadership.  In any event, Tennessee has turned back to David Cutcliffe as their offensive coordinator.  Fulmer feels Cutcliffe has the ability to keep his players out of trouble and turn the program around.  Only time will tell.

Tennessee has not made many friends over the past decade, but they still remain a SEC team that many circle on their schedule every year as a big game.  With all of the scandal, some believe that Fulmer may have dodged his last bullet and is entering a must win year in '06.  Others feel Fulmer can stay as long as he wants at Tennessee and that this was only a small bump in the road.  One thing is for sure, you are either with the Vols or you are against the Vols, no in between.