By Jimmy Hyams
In Phillip Fulmer’s most important press conference in nine years, he tried to do what hasn’t been done in about three decades: Unite the fan base.
Whether he can remains to be seen. But he sure owned the moment.
On a day when Fulmer was named Tennessee’s acting athletic director – we’ll explain the terminology later — Fulmer talked about the need for unity, for the fan base and boosters to come together.
His first task is finding a new football coach.
Few programs in history have bungled a coaching search as deftly as Tennessee did under John Currie. It went from comical to embarrassing.
When Chancellor Beverly Davenport asked Currie to come off the road Thursday – and Currie apparently didn’t, instead interviewing Washington State coach Mike Leach – Davenport had seen enough.
She suspended Currie with pay with the intent to fire him for cause. Davenport made it clear in her appointment letter to Fulmer. It stated Currie was suspended with pay “pending an investigation or decision relation to termination of his Employment Agreement for causes under Article IX.’’
Davenport declined to say if she was calling Currie off the road to fire him or if she fired him because he didn’t immediately return.
On reason she didn’t get specific is because UT plans to fire Currie for cause.
This is like what happened at Louisville, where the school suspended men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino before firing him with cause.
How much does UT owe Currie if UT can’t fire him for cause? I’m unsure.
Currie’s contract calls for $900,000 for five years or until June 28, 2022. It also says UT owes him $100,000 for each month left on the deal. If the latter is true, he’s owed $5.5 million. That amount exceeds the overall value of the contract – so it would seem odd that UT would owe him more than the amount of his contract.
If he is owned the five years minus the five months he has worked past June 28 of this year, his pay would be about $4 million.
Fulmer will be paid $575,000 a year for “no definitive term’’ – there is no mention of a two-year deal — and it is an “at-will’’ agreement. The reason Fulmer is “active’’ is that Currie is still the athletic director, although suspended. A school can’t have two athletic directors at the same time.
Once Currie is fired, Fulmer will have the “active’’ part removed.
Fulmer ruled out a return to coaching.
He didn’t give a timetable for hiring a replacement for Butch Jones as he heads UT’s search. And he said there are “definitely people interested’’ in the Tennessee job.
Fulmer said he would reach out to UT’s current commitments, which number about 18, and that UT might find some recruits that might not have been interested in UT before.
Fulmer said he is “charged with finding the right coach’’ and noted that he was a coordinator before he was promoted to coach Tennessee, helping the Vols win a national championship and two SEC titles.
But he added: “More times than not, you like experience.’’
Saying he is honored to serve as AD, Fulmer said: “It’s time that we all pull together to be part of the solution.’’
He also said: “Let’s go have fun winning championships.’’
Fulmer had been passed over as the AD when Currie was hired Feb. 28.
Currie was instrumental in the firing of Fulmer in 2008 when Currie was associated AD under AD Mike Hamilton.
Regarding Currie, it appears as though the cause would be for insubordination. Would that only be related to not returning when asked by Davenport? She indicated it was more than that.
Did Currie branch out on his own during the coaching search? Or did he say things to candidates during the search that might not have been favorable to his bosses? Or is he a scapegoat?
We might never know.
Meanwhile, Fulmer will comb the country to hire a new coach.
Hopefully his search will be smoother than the one run by Currie.
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