Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer has no desire to return as head coach of the Volunteers again, he said Wednesday.
Fulmer, the head coach of Tennessee’s national championship team in 1998, appeared on the Vol Network’s “Vol Calls” radio show Wednesday night, and addressed rumors about his possible return to the coaching ranks after Tennessee’s 1-3 start.
“We’ve got a good football coach, and I believe in Jeremy Pruitt totally,” Fulmer said. “I have no interest in coaching again and would rather spend that time being a grandfather and doing whatever I can as athletic director in helping Jeremy get this program where we all want it to be. Any talk of me coaching again is just a bunch of rumors.”
Tennessee, which finished 5-7 in 2018, Pruitt’s first year, plays host to No. 3 Georgia on Saturday.
“I mean, Jeremy would tell you himself: We had every opportunity to be 3-1 or better. That’s the discouraging part of it,” Fulmer said. “But I’m going to tell you this: I totally believe in Coach Pruitt and the job that he’s doing. He’s a leader. He’s a recruiter. He’s a hard worker. He’s tough-minded. He confronts the issues that we have.
“We came in and I was telling everybody — and I don’t think they listened very well — we had a long way to go. We had lots of issues to deal with. And we have a really outstanding, good-looking freshman class. We have seven seniors that are busting their butt, and a lot of other kids on the team, as well.”
Fulmer, 69, also appeared on ESPN, saying, “I’m way past that point in my life. … I love the job I have (as AD) and am committed to seeing this thing through.”
In April 2018, Fulmer received a new four-year contract to remain as the school’s athletic director.
The school said at the time the deal was worth at least $900,000 annually — $300,000 in base salary plus $600,000 in supplemental pay for personal appearances and media services. There was also a $100,000 annual retention bonus.
Fulmer previously received a two-year deal worth $575,000 annually when he was named athletic director in December 2017.
Fulmer replaced John Currie, who came under fire for some missteps during the search for a new football coach. The new AD settled on Pruitt, then Alabama’s defensive coordinator, to be the new coach.
Fulmer has been a popular figure in the state due to his stint as Tennessee’s football coach from 1992-2008, fired from that position after the Vols endured their second losing season in four years. He compiled a 151-52-1 record and guided the Volunteers to that one national title. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.