From Rocky Top to Rock Bottom: The Tennessee Volunteers Story

By:  Guest Writer Ben Bramhall

Ah yes, the mighty Rocky Top.  The Tennessee Volunteers are a traditional powerhouse of the SEC, a consistent contender for the national title, and the envy of college football in the South.  Oh…wait…sorry, I tend to think of statements that haven’t been true or relevant since the 90s/early 2000s when Sugar Ray, Everclear, or Live happen to come on my Spotify.  Let me try this again.

Ah yes, the mighty Rocky Top. By mighty, I mean one of the mightiest dumpster fires of the SEC and college football. It is absolutely amazing to me that a team that was so great year after year during my childhood has been reduced to a team that loses to Georgia State.  Really?!? Freakin’ Georgia State?!? They’ve only had a football team for about ten years! I mean holy crap Volunteer fans, what happened to you guys? Why are you this bad? Well, as usual, let’s start from the beginning.

Phil Fulmer Era, Pride of Southern Football

Knoxville has its fair share of great coaches that have been the reason for their past successes.  However, this Tennessee story begins with the legendary Phil Fulmer, an outstanding head coach who led the Volunteers to consistent victory during the 90s and early 2000s.  Everyone in my generation who grew up watching college football knew who Phil Fulmer was. Back in the day, nobody wanted to see Tennessee on their schedule. The man was a tactical genius, an uncanny recruiter, and a well-respected coach among the ranks of not just the SEC, but the entirety of college football.  Safe to say, I have a mad respect for the guy.

His coaching style is one of the many things that got me into football as more than a casual fan. And because of this respect, I’m not always high on Tennessee fans. You see, Volunteer fans can tend be somewhat…knee-jerk reactionary. Not all Tennessee fans, but some.  Now, before you began saying that I don’t know what I’m talking about, know that I’m a Philadelphia Eagles fan. I know overly knee-jerk reactionary fans because I cheer among them every Sunday and believe me, you fit the bill, and it started with the Phil Fulmer era.

The End of an Era

Let’s go to the 2008 season. Phil Fulmer is coming off a SEC east division title where he loses in the SEC championship game to LSU, the eventual national champions.  A lot of key players have left, and the Volunteers are a weaker team than usual. It also doesn’t help that they get stricken by the discipline bug which leads to multiple suspensions and other distractions. That’s ok, it happens sometimes, and you have a struggling season here and there. The fans take it well though by losing faith in the head coach that’s won year after year and many wanted him to be immediately fired…wait what? Really?!?  I mean the guy is getting up there in age, the team is struggling, and he doesn’t do some of the sexy new things that other programs are doing, but good lord.

He just took you to the SEC championship game the year before and now you just want him gone? What the hell? Well, you got what you wish for. Fulmer is basically shown the front door before deciding to step down himself. To me, this was highly disrespectful, especially considering how much the dude did for the program.  So, let me ask you this Vols fans, do you believe in karma? Because oh man, it’s a comin’, and it let me tell ya, it ain’t stopin’.

Lane Kiffin…Era…I Guess???

Tired of the old school ways of coaching philosophies, the Rocky Top decide to go to the opposite side of the spectrum of age and go for a flashy young gun.  In comes the boy wonder, Lane Kiffin, a one-year NFL flame out who went 4-12 with the Oakland Raiders and was described as a “flat-out liar and disgrace to the organization” by owner Al Davis.  So, while this was an extremely risky hire, the reward could be immeasurable. The young prodigy was an understudy of Pete Carrol at USC during the Trojan dynasty and was described by many as an offensive genius.  During the 2009 season, Kiffin would lead the Volunteers to a modest 7-6 season. The season was unspectacular and marred by some bad losses, but the ungodly offensive statistics and numbers gave many Vols fans a new hope for the future…which would end up being very short-lived.

Kiffin Disgraced

You see, Al Davis may have had a point when describing Lane Kiffin’s behavior.  During the 2009 season, Kiffin would be involved in a couple of embarrassing controversies.  Let’s start with his little beef with then Florida head coach Urban Meyer, where he accused him of cheating when Meyer was attempting to call a prospect while he was visiting Tennessee’s campus.  Kiffin would describe this incident during a press conference and even gave away the prospect’s name…which is actually an NCAA violation. The NCAA ended up telling Kiffin that Meyer did nothing wrong and that he would have to formally apologize to Meyer for the baseless accusations. 

Then, we have the infamous Alshon Jeffery incident. While trying to recruit the big-body wide receiver, he thought it’d be a classy move to inform Mr. Jeffery that if he chose to play for the Gamecocks, “he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.”  Alshon Jeffery would proceed to go the South Carolina, become one of the best receivers in Gamecock history, get drafted in the second round of the NFL draft, and win a Super Bowl ring with the Philadelphia Eagles. Not bad for pumping gas in South Carolina, huh Kiffen? Jackass.

If that wasn’t enough, his next act would top everything.  Pete Carrol decides that NCAA sanctions are no fun and decides to high tail it to the NFL ranks, leaving a head coaching vacancy at USC.  Kiffin, the classy man that he is, upholds his high standards by abandoning Tennessee and heading straight for the City of Angels. Understandably, Vols fans are pretty upset, and they do what most upset football fans do.  Vent for a little bit, have a few drinks, then forget it ever hap…NAH, FORGET THAT! BRING OUT THE TORCHES, IT’S TIME FOR SOME RIOTS! WOOHOO, BURN IT ALL!

Derek Dooley Era, A Lesson in Mediocrity

Boy, that escalated quickly.  Safe to say that the Kiffin situation, combined with the student riots in Knoxville, weren’t exactly making Tennessee a prime hotspot for new coaching candidates.  That’s ok though, they found the right man for the job as the always do. The Vols decide to go with Derek Dooley, the three-year head coach out of Louisiana Tech who was absolutely mediocre in his first two years before going 4-8 in his last season with the Bulldogs…wait what?  This guy? This is a joke, right? Derek Dooley? This is really the best you can do?

Well…if you want mediocrity, you’ll get mediocrity. And that’s exactly what the Volunteers would get with three years of Dooley boring people to death with his uninspiring coaching and pedestrian team performances.  Three mediocre seasons, and then Dooley is gone. I could probably go more into this era, but I’m honestly boring myself to death just thinking about it. For everyone’s sake, let’s move on.

Butch Jones Era, Underachieving FTW

Yeah…um…let’s never do that again.  Forget boring, we need fire, we need passion, we need grit, and we got the man for it.  Here comes Butch Jones, the fiery coach out of Cincinnati who reminds me of Anger from Inside Out whenever he yells on the sidelines.  I’ll admit it, this was actually a very good hire.  Butch Jones quickly became well-known as a solid recruiter among the college ranks.  He immediately won the crowd in his first year during the 2013 season, where he coached the Volunteers to a huge comeback victory over a highly ranked Gamecocks team.  Hell, that win convinced me that Tennessee may have gotten this hire right. The Vols may have only finished the season with a 6-7 record, but there were some exciting things for fans to look forward to.  

His next three seasons would see even stronger recruiting classes and season finishes of 7-6, 9-4, and 9-4.  Now, looking at that, you would think that Jones is doing really well. However, by his fourth season with the Vols and even with a 9-4 record, it seemed like he hit a wall.  Even with a very talented team, they just don’t ever seem to play up to the hype or talent that you would think such a highly recruited team would do. All good though, give him some time.  

The Crash

Then, the 2017 season came…and it all came crashing down.  A lot of Tennessee starters from last year were gone and not adequately replaced, resulting in an abysmal 4-8 season with no wins in the SEC conference.  A bad season, but hey, everyone has them. Jones will be back and better than ev…haaaaa sike. You think we’re bringing Jones back after we sacked Fulmer for one bad season?  Get the hell outta here with that! Speaking of Phil, he’s now the AD of Tennessee. Totally not an apology move by Knoxville, whatsoever.

Greg Schiano…Not Era

Welp…back to the drawing board.  Hmmm, maybe we should go with a defensive guy instead.  Oh, I know, how about this Greg Schiano guy. He’s the reason why Rutgers was actually respected at one point as a college football program and has coached some great defenses for Ohio State these last couple of seasons.  Sure, he can be a jerk at times, but the dude can coach ‘em up. Sign this guy up!  

This seemed like a surefire hire…until everyone and their mother from the state of Tennessee started bringing up the fact that he was on Penn State’s staff during the Sandusky scandal…as if this wasn’t already known for a long time.  But hey, it’s all good. Even if this was brought up again, everyone will wait for further details about his involvement in the situation to come out and…NAH! EVIDENCE? THAT’S FOR NERDS! HEARSAY SPECULATION, FTW! BRING BACK THE TORCHES, TIME FOR MORE RIOTS!  

Even with the investigation into his knowledge of the scandal still ongoing, Tennessee had no choice but to give into the demands of an infuriated fanbase and back out of the deal.  Not long after, it turns out that he had nothing to do with the scandal or had any knowledge of anything going on. Nice, Vols fans. Maybe wait for the full story to come out next time instead of believing everything you read first on Facebook or Twitter?

Jeremy Pruitt Era, TBD

Alright, enough of this.  Let’s just do what everyone else is doing and hire a former coordinator under that damned Nick Saban guy.  Honestly, I’m not going to go into too much detail concerning this era because as the subtitle suggests, his tenure as the Vols head coach is still up in the air.  He showed some promise during the 2018 season, but after a horrific loss to Georgia State, there isn’t a whole lot of optimism to be had right now. Again, I’m going to wait for more games to be played before I give my final opinion, but that loss is definitely an all-time low for the Tennessee football program.  At least the fanbase isn’t already calling for Pruitt’s head on a spike…so that’s a start…right?

Conclusion

All in all, it’s a pretty sad tale.  A once proud football traditional powerhouse of the South, undone by horrible coaching hires, knee-jerk decisions by the higher-ups, and knee-jerk reactions by the fanbase.  Vols fans, you probably think I hate you. I don’t. You’re nowhere near as despicable a fanbase as the Ohio State faithful. That said, you just need to lighten up. I get you’re frustrated; I’ve been there before.  But be patient, Pruitt could end up being the guy if given a chance. See? I can be nice. By the way, “Rocky Top” is annoying and overrated. Sorry, had to throw one more jab in there for old time’s sake.   

Bramhall was born, raised, and currently lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  He graduated from Wofford College. He just finished his masters in school counseling at Gardner-Webb University.  However, his true home might as well be the state of Pennsylvania. He is a huge Penn State Nittany Lions football fan.  He’s also the Philadelphia Eagles’ biggest fan, which used to be a miserable life of “what ifs” and “oh so close” moments.  But after his team won the Super Bowl, he is now a god among men and is never wrong about anything football. If you didn’t like the Philly Special, he doesn’t like you.