When I spoke to a former Tennessee football player on Thursday I was presented with a conspiracy theory that was almost impossible to believe.
The player told me he firmly believed that former UT coach Phillip Fulmer was purposefully sabotaging Tennessee’s coaching search in order to have John Currie fired and become his replacement. I checked the sky for black helicopters. I didn’t see any, but I did consider the possibility. After all, Fulmer is widely believed to have sabotaged former UT coach Johnny Majors in order to secure the Vols’ head coaching position in 1992. So undermining Currie wouldn’t have been out of character for Fulmer.
Majors certainly believes Fulmer was responsible for his firing. Majors has often said Fulmer stabbed him in the back as doctors were operating on his front, referring to his heart surgery at the time. Still, it was hard to believe that Fulmer would be so brazen once again when it came to Currie. Then came this report from Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports on Twitter shortly after Currie was indeed fired on Friday morning.
Industry source: “Throughout this entire (#Tennessee) coaching search Phil Fulmer has tried to undermine AD John Currie in hopes of becoming the AD there.” https://t.co/Z2v03Nkd2h
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 1, 2017
Feldman is one of the best college football insiders in the country. He wouldn’t simply float that out there if he didn’t believe his source. Now, in fairness to Fulmer, that source could be incorrect. However, it makes too much sense to simply dismiss. Shortly after Feldman’s Twitter report, another college football insider, Brett McMurphy, confirmed as much shortly after Currie had been fired following a trip out west to interview Washington State coach Mike Leach.
Sources: John Currie was prepared to hire Mike Leach but university officials wouldn’t allow him to do so. Phillip Fulmer has been sabotaging search process in hopes to become Tennessee’s AD
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2017
Another source: Tennessee’s own people have been ambushing (John) Currie’s (coaching search). They shoot themselves in the foot, cock the gun & shoot themselves in the other foot. It’s been going on for a week”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2017
Yet another source on Tennessee situation: “Your tweets about (John) Currie (& coaching search being sabotaged) are exactly accurate. I know the situation well”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2017
I was told by multiple sources that Fulmer was led to believe he would replace former UT athletic director Dave Hart in February. Then, Currie was suddenly announced as UT’s new athletic director just days later. Apparently, Fulmer had been duped.
That wasn’t the first time Currie got the upper-hand on Fulmer. He was part of the braintrust at UT that fired Fulmer following the 2008 season. Fulmer used to always say he was like an elephant and he never forgets. I’m guessing he didn’t forget getting fired.
If Fulmer truly tried to sabotage UT’s coaching search, it might work out for the best. Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who was a longtime assistant at UT, recently said he wasn’t interested in the head coaching job at Tennessee. With Fulmer at the helm, that could change. Cutcliffe would be a solid hire.
However, there’s something much more significant at play here. If Fulmer purposefully undermined UT’s coaching search, he can’t be trusted. If that’s proven, he should be banned from the program permanently. No athletic program needs someone that morally bankrupt. But don’t expect that to happen. Fans of Majors were irate in 1992. Yet Fulmer kept smiling and weathered the storm. He may very well do that again – as Tennessee’s new athletic director.
