Football Comment

All apologies to Butthead for appropriating his eloquent prose in the headline.

Knoxville News Sentinel Columnist John Adams called for the firing of Phil Fulmer this week. Although it may seem at odds with my post on the topic earlier this week, Adams is right.

I linked Fulmer’s issues casually in my post - as an example of when it goes beyond coincidence into something darker. Fulmer has lost control of the discipline in Knoxville, it’s obvious. Aside from any snide comments on my part, Britton Colquitt sorely needs help. He’s had 5 alcohol-related arrests since arriving on campus at UT. Five. That’s two more than three. If the kid couldn’t punt the ball 50 yards with a seven-second hangtime, he’d be a foregone conclusion. From Adams’s column:

Remember a couple of years ago when three UT players were arrested following a disturbance at a local bar? The two backup players got one- and two-game suspensions. Arian Foster, the starting tailback, was suspended for half a game.

Fulmer’s explanation: Foster served as a peacemaker. But that’s not what the police report said.

What kind of message does that send? It sends the same message that Fulmer sent with his disciplining of Colquitt: “It’s what you do on the field that matters.”

Adams’s call for Fulmer’s job was spot on. The column details a litany of troubles for current and former UT players. It’s an embarrassment to the University and the state it represents.

Today, Fulmer has responded. He’s an educator and a mentor first. Adams has never seen him in a recruit’s home (which I suppose somehow matters). He cites an anecdote that one of his former troubled players is now a “Knoxville Sherrif” - I can only assume he means Knox County Sherrif, but let’s not quibble.

Coach, the problem isn’t with the anecdotes. It’s with the statistics. If this was the third time this had happened, it wouldn’t be a huge deal. But this isn’t the third time this has happened with your program. It’s not the third time for Colquitt! Fulmer is “offended” that Adams has questioned “my integrity, my sense of fairness, or values as a man.” He didn’t do any of that. Part of your job is to make sure that the student athletes are ambassadors of the University. That they are examples for other students and that they do what they should more often than not.

John Adams wasn’t saying you’re a bad man. He’s just saying you’re doing a bad job as football coach. There’s a difference.