2001 Inductee

Phillip Fulmer

Phillip Fulmer has completed his ninth season as head coach of the Tennessee Vols and has continued to add to the list of accomplishments that have placed him in the top ranks of his profession.

It's also important to Vol followers that three decades ago, Fulmer was an outstanding lineman on three UT teams that ended their seasons going to holiday bowl games. He served as captain his senior year at Tennessee.

Vol fans point with pride that the Winchester, Tennessee native continues to rank as the nation's No. 1 coach in terms of winning percentage. Off the field, the Tennessee head coach has also received top national honors being awarded one of the most prestigious and personally satisfying honors that can come to a man the field of athletics. A blue-ribbon panel of judges named Fulmer the second annual winner of the State Farm Eddie Robinson Coach of Distinction Award. Penn State's Joe Paterno was the previous recipient.

 

Beginning with the 1992 season, Tennessee teams under Fulmer have compiled a record of 84 wins and 17 loses for a percentage of .832. An accepted measure of a program's success, its position in national polls, has also been a testimonial to Fulmer's sure hand at the helm. Under Fulmer the Vols had a streak of 54 consecutive weeks ranked in the top 10. Heading into the bowl season, UT has been ranked in the national polls at game time for 91 of Fulmer's 102 games as head coach. The Vols have ended the season ranked in the top 10 five times since Fulmer took over as head coach.

 

A high point for all Tennessee followers was in 1998 when Fulmer's Tennessee team capped a perfect 13-0 campaign with a 23-16 victory over Florida State in the 1999 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. That victory gave the Vols a consensus National Championship which was first in college football under the current BCS system.

Fulmer was honored as Tennessean of the Year for 2000.