Randy Smith
With sincere apologies to UTC Athletic Director David Blackburn, the University of Tennessee really needs Coach Phillip Fulmer as the school's new AD. Blackburn has done a wonderful job and, if Fulmer is hired by UT as expected, Blackburn would be the "A.D. in waiting." The Volunteers really need Coach Fulmer badly. Had I been in his place, being forced out in 2008 after fashioning a 152-52 overall record, and the 1998 National Championship, I might be tempted to tell the powers that be to shove it.
But I'm not him, and, if offered the job, I fully expect him to take it.
Why does UT really need Phillip Fulmer as the new A.D. you ask? Because when 'Bama Dave Hart took over in 2011, he began to dismantle the Athletic Department that the great Doug Dickey worked so hard to build beginning in 1986. He sent veteran employees packing; some of them having been with the university for 45 years or more. He replaced them with his own people, and at one time there was no one in a position of authority that really knew anything at all about the Vols' rich athletics history. The true Vols were no longer there. That's why we need Phillip Fulmer back in Knoxville. He is the truest example of being an orange-blooded Vol for Life than anyone I ever knew.
In a move to make the athletic department more efficient, Hart combined the men's and women's departments into one. He wanted one logo and one nickname for all teams. Only women's basketball can call themselves the "Lady Vols" anymore. Things like that will likely stay the same, because as much as we all despised that move, it has been good financially.
A lot of people didn't like Phillip Fulmer when he was the school's head football coach. His play was too conservative for some, too ramped up and exciting for others, but he won. Five SEC East titles, two SEC Championships and that one national title in 1998 in sixteen years as head coach. Very few coaches can equal that kind of success. Alabama fans really dislike Fulmer but that's probably due to the fact the Crimson Tide seldom beat Tennessee when he was head coach. Overall, Fulmer was 11-5 against Alabama, including seven straight wins at one stretch. 'Bama fans continue to call him "Fat Phil" and they're laughing at the possibility of him becoming the new AD. They can laugh all they want. Phillip Fulmer is a class act.
Perhaps the greatest reason to bring Coach Fulmer back home to Tennessee is this simple fact - as he stated recently, he has had the best interests of the University of Tennessee at heart since he was 18 years old. He chose Tennessee over Alabama and began a relationship with the Vols that included being a player, a student assistant coach, an assistant coach, and a head coach. Overall, he has spent all but three years until being replaced in 2008 as a member of the Tennessee family. He knows our history, he knows the people that made Tennessee great and he will do a great job of bringing our people back together. We need him badly. To borrow a phrase that I saw underneath his picture today on Facebook, "Bring. This. Man. Home."
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for 30 years. He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century. In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have five grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, Mattingly, DellaMae, and CoraLee.