FanPost

Should Phillip Fulmer retire?

This was posted by regular commenter Smitty as a comment to the Outback post-game awards. It deserves some attention of its own, so I'm re-posting it over here. What do y'all think?

Update [2007-1-3 13:2:56 by Joel]:Welcome, Rivals message boarders! I'm not a "Fulmer-hater." I don't believe Smitty is, either. I like Fulmer and think he is doing a good job. The point here, I think, is that things are getting more and more difficult in the SEC, and the figures are sobering. Thanks for coming by, and have a look around while you're here.

Well we can never fire Fulmer, but I hope he decides to step down after next season because he is just running the program down. We play not to lose more than we play to win.  Let's look at the stats

Fulmer's Record Since 1998

Years without SEC title: 8
Years without BCS bowl: 7
Years without top 10 ranking: 5
Years without AP Top 25 ranking: 2000, 2002, 2005, probably 2006
Years with 3 or more losses: 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 (5 straight years and 7 out of 8 )
Years with 4 or more losses: 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006
Years with 5 or more losses: 2002, 2005
Years with 6 losses: 2005
Years with multiple losses to unranked teams: 2003, 2005
Years with loss within last 2 games of season: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 (EIGHT straight years and counting)

4-8 (.333) vs. Spurrier: (2-3 since 1998)
2-4 (.333) vs. Richt
1-3 (.250) vs. Tuberville
1-2 (.333) vs. Saban
0-2 (.000) vs. Meyer

9-16 (.360) 1999 - present vs. FL, GA, LSU, AUB (thank God for Zook!)
7-15 (.318 ) 2000 - present vs. FL, GA, LSU, AUB
5-14 (.263) 2000 - present vs. FL, GA, LSU, AUB excluding games vs. Zook
5-12 (.294) 2000 - present vs. FL, GA, AUB
3-11 (.214) 2000 - present vs. FL, GA, AUB excluding games vs. Zook
5-9 (.357) 2000 - present vs. FL, GA
3-8 (.272) 2000 - present vs. FL, GA excluding games vs. Zook
2-5 (.286) 2000 - present vs. GA
8-14 (.363) vs. Top 10 teams 1999 - present
1-6 (.142) vs. Top 10 teams at home 2000 - present
6-12 (.333) vs. Top 10 teams 2000 - present
17-19 (.472) vs. Ranked Teams 1999 - present
2-5 (.285) Bowl games since 1998 (all double digit losses)
2-7 (.222) Postseason record since 1998 including SECCG (all double digit losses)

Losses To Unranked Teams:
2006 PSU 20 TN 10
2005 Van 28 TN 24
2005 SC 16 TN 15
2004 ND 17 TN 13
2003 Clem 27 TN 14
2003 Aub 28 TN 21
2001 GA 26 TN 24
2000 LSU 38 TN 31
1999 Ark 28 TN 24

Footnote: only AP polls were used for ranking purposes.

When ever a big time job or a pro job comes open, you never hear Fulmer's name as a possible can[d]i[d]ate. I wonder why that is?

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