UT Vols: Phillip Fulmer ushers in 'new era' as AD, heads Tennessee football coaching search

Phillip Fulmer is back in charge at Tennessee — but on a bigger scale this time around.

The former Tennessee football coach now is the athletic director, taking the reins of the athletic department hours after former athletic director John Currie was suspended with pay amid a football coaching search.

“We are here today to begin a new era and a new opportunity to move the University of Tennessee forward,” UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport said. “I asked Phillip if he will lead our athletic department for the foreseeable future, and I asked him to take the reins of our search for the next head football coach.”

Fulmer, who was fired as the UT coach in November 2008, was introduced as the new athletic director at Tennessee on Friday. Fulmer was a candidate for the job when it opened after ex-athletic director Dave Hart announced his retirement last August.

He was passed over then, but it is his now in the middle of a bumbling, chaotic coaching search to fill the coaching vacancy created with Butch Jones’ firing on Nov. 12.

“I think with the background that I have here — as well as what we have done at different times here, the facilities, the tradition, the leadership that we have here — I definitely think there will be people that will be interested,” Fulmer said of the coaching vacancy.

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Finding a new football coach will be Fulmer's top priority, as it was for Currie before he was ousted eight months to the day after he started. Fulmer said he does not have a timetable to make a hire but stressed he has “been charged to find the right coach for these circumstances” and that he will not be the interim coach or the head coach.

Fulmer, who won a national title at Tennessee in 1998, said experience is important in a coaching hire. But he is open to a head coach, assistant coach or coordinator — pointing out that he had no head coaching experience when he was promoted at Tennessee in 1992.

“We first must find us a coach that wants to be at Tennessee, who appreciates the unique opportunity that we have to offer at this very special place at this historical time and who is driven to win at the highest level of college football,” Fulmer said. “The kind of head coach who will honor our university’s values, will be proud to represent our state and will be a role model for our student-athletes.”

As an athletic director, Fulmer said his approach will center on a “cooperative spirit,” while he hopes to be a stabilizing force. Fulmer, who coached the Vols to 152 wins and a pair of SEC titles in 17 seasons, will make $575,000 annually.

“It is my mission to lead our entire athletic department in a way that honors our university’s legacy and insists on that excellence,” said Fulmer, who has been serving as a special adviser to the University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro.

More:Tennessee lawmakers laud Fulmer appointment, criticize University of Tennessee

Neither Davenport nor Fulmer were interested in talking about the past week that led to Currie’s suspension, instead turning all comments toward the future.

Currie was fired Friday amid a chaotic coaching search that saw public outcry when he attempted to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano on Sunday.

Currie and the Vols then whiffed on a handful of candidates throughout the rest of the week. Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, Purdue’s Jeff Brohm and North Carolina State's Dave Doeren were among the coaches who passed on the job. Tennessee fans chanted “Fire Currie” at a basketball game at Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday, getting their wish two days later after reports that Currie and Washington State coach Mike Leach met Thursday in Los Angeles.

Fulmer was expected to meet Friday evening with the Tennessee football team, whose season ended six days ago with a 4-8 record.

“Our football program has the history and the facilities and the tradition and the resources to play with anyone, anytime — that’s what we’re going to do again,” Fulmer said. “This is an important time in our history. We all agree on the objective. We all agree on the urgency of achieving our objective. It’s time that we all pull together to be part of the solution.

“There is much work to be done, and I am honored to have this opportunity.”

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