COACH PHILLIP FULMER RESPONDS DIRECTLY TO JOHN ADAMS

Most college football fans visualize the head coach pacing the sidelines on Saturday afternoon. But the truth is that our hardest work is done far from the view of fans, sportswriters, or television cameras.

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In Tuesday's Knoxville News-Sentinel, you may have seen John Adams' column attacking my character and my leadership. We live in a free country, and Mr. Adams has built a successful career speaking his mind - that's his right. But the readers of the News-Sentinel have a right to know what Mr. Adams doesn't know, as well.

Mr. Adams has never sat next to me in a prospect's living room, looking his mother or grandmother in the eyes and promising to treat the young man like he was my own child - giving him tough love when necessary and an opportunity to straighten up when that's in order. It is a promise I take seriously and will never abandon to please any columnist.

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Unfortunately there is no template for helping young people grow to be well-adjusted, responsible adults. I have four children of my own, including a varsity athlete, and like any parent can tell you, each child is unique and each one requires different parenting. The same is true of our football players. The vast majority of our players come to UT and have a great experience, enriching our campus community, and leaving it better than they found it. They all have needs along the way - in the case of a very small number of them, they need a good dose of discipline and accountability.

Since I have been the head coach at UT, I have learned a great deal about mixing "tough love" and encouragement. The hundreds of players we have graduated will gladly attest to both - they have all loved and despised me at different points in their college days. I have kicked some of our most talented athletes off the team when I thought it would do them the most good as individuals or they were damaging our goals as a team. I have taken the heat from partially-informed pundits when I gave others a second chance. I accept that role with honor and humility; it's what an educator does.

It is on this point that I feel most compelled to take issue with Mr. Adams' column. He is certainly free to criticize my football strategy - during my tenure our program has won more games than 95 percent of all other major college programs, but his criticism on that is fair game. He is free to critique our team's appeal with our fans - we have ranked no worse than fourth in attendance in the nation every year I have been head coach, but he's within his rights to chastise us for that too. He is free to say that my best days are behind me - our most recent team finished first in what was the toughest SEC East in two decades, but I accept his criticism on that as well. What I will not accept is Mr. Adams questioning my integrity, my sense of fairness, or values as a man.

At no time in my tenure has a player's football skill or athletic success been a factor in the way he was disciplined. Never. Our internal discipline is based on one factor alone: the course that is most likely to help that individual young man make amends and get his life straight. We make these decisions after much deliberation and with the input of administration, professional staff, counselors, and when necessary, law enforcement. This is not the easy way to mete out punishment. It requires judgment and leadership to keep the entire team focused and respectful of rules and basic morality, but it is the method that best serves the interest of our young men. In my 15 years, I've undoubtedly made some mistakes, but I try to do what I think is in the best interest for each young man.

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Our program, like almost any student group at any major university, has had more students find trouble than any of us in collegiate administration desire. As a parent myself, I routinely lose sleep worrying about the 100 or so young men put in my care. And like any educator, I want all our students to succeed all the time. I'm sure Mr. Adams wants that, too. But from inside the university halls looking outward, that job is a lot different than it looks from the press box where Mr. Adams sits.

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Many of you may have heard of columnist John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writing a piece earlier this week calling for a change in leadership of our football team. Mr. Adams' column is totally misguided and inappropriate. Coach Fulmer has responded in a guest column which can be accessed at the following link - http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2008/feb/21/coachs-first-job-is-as-educator-mentor/. John Adams does not know the Phillip Fulmer I know. The education and growth of young men is a tough business requiring tough decisions and tough love. Coach Fulmer understands that. While several off-field incidents with our football team have occurred over the last few weeks, I can assure you these situations are being looked at with a critical eye by our coaching and administrative staff as we dole out punishment, and they are taken very seriously. Discipline is to be painful and sufficient to change behavior. Sometimes we fall short of that goal, but the ultimate goal of trying to represent the University of Tennessee and to assist in the education of these young men as they become mature men has never changed. Teaching young men personal responsibility and responsibility to a team ultimately addresses these issues. An institution could not ask for a better role model in dealing with these young men than Phillip Fulmer. He is a person of integrity and high moral character. This talk of nonsense from Mr. Adams only serves as a distraction from your university's football team and its goals. I would ask for your rally of support behind Coach Fulmer and this football team as they try and bring home another National Championship for you – the greatest fans in America.