How dare Tennessee hire Phillip Fulmer for only $100,000 a year

I returned from vacation to disturbing news last week. University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro had hired former football coach Phillip Fulmer as a special adviser for $100,000 a year.

My first reaction: “Are you kidding me?” My second reaction: "Are you kidding me?”

UT paid Fulmer millions of dollars a year not to do anything after he was fired in 2008. Now it puts him back to work for a mere $100,000 a year. It should be embarrassed.

“But it’s only a part-time job,” you say.

Please. Current UT football coach Butch Jones makes $4 million a year. Given those late-season losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt, you could argue that he wasn’t working fulltime, either.

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Maybe Tennessee needs to be reminded what Fulmer accomplished when he was punching a university clock on a regular basis. He won 152 of 205 games. And in one glorious stretch of the 1990s, he won 45 of 50 games, highlighted by an undefeated national championship season in 1998.

So what if things went south a decade later? Fans don’t remember Fulmer for the program’s decline. They remember him for the glory days. And those days seem more glorious than ever since the Vols last won an SEC championship 19 years ago.

The mere mention of Fulmer’s name revives memories of better Tennessee times. In fact, UT should pay him $100,000 for just showing up on campus.

He should get twice as much when Alabama is in town.

Perhaps UT forgot what misery the Vols inflicted on Alabama when Fulmer was in charge. He beat Alabama seven consecutive times in one stretch.

Think that doesn’t resonate with fans during UT’s 10-game losing streak to the Tide?

What’s the price for memories like that? $1 million a year would be a reasonable figure – with built-in incentives, of course.

Well-heeled Tennessee fans surely would pay $5,000 for a dinner with the coach who not only led the Vols to a national championship but also knows Peyton Manning on a first-name basis. Even the less prosperous members of the fan base probably would shell out $100 for a Fulmer handshake.

Yet Tennessee puts him on the payroll for $100,000 a year. It just looks cheap.

My guess is DiPietro will realize as much in the next few months. When he does, he will beckon Fulmer to his office and insist on renegotiating a deal worthy of a national championship coach and more in keeping with UT’s reputation.

This is a school that made Derek Dooley a rich man for posting one seven-loss season after another, then paid him even more not to coach. This is a school that kept baseball coach Dave Serrano on the payroll for six seasons. This is a school that throws money at coaches and former coaches.

It would be only fair to throw another million Fulmer’s way. Make it two million if he would agree to help formulate the game plan for South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

Reach John Adams at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knowsnews.com and on Twitter @johnadamskns.