Email shows Phillip Fulmer’s standing prior to Jeremy Pruitt’s for-cause firing
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Phillip Fulmer made excuses and argued for the retention of Jeremy Pruitt prior to his for-cause firing in early 2021.
Emails obtained by Knox News this past week painted a picture of Fulmer’s standing in the midst of a program racking up a massive amount of NCAA violations. The contents of the email make it seem that Fulmer was oblivious to Pruitt’s rule-breaking.
Fulmer made a laundry list of excuses to chancellor Donde Plowman when asked what exactly the problem was with the struggling football program. He insisted the program was in a bad place in the email and made other excuses for Tennessee struggling on the field.
“You also have to realize how bad the program was when we arrived here,” Fulmer wrote. “We had no big linemen, no one that benched 400 (pounds), and no natural leaders.”
Fulmer also said that losing to Vanderbilt in 2017 was “really hard to swallow” for a lot of people in the football program. According to Knox News, the email was written as a rough draft to Plowman, but was instead accidentally sent to Caitlyn Hardy, Fulmer’s assistant director for executive operations.
Fulmer also reportedly wanted to retain Pruitt as head coach following a terrible 2020 season for the Vols, writing ““I am not (at) all advocating a change in football and hope we do not get there with pending issues, I do believe we can overcome our challenges, and I have seen signs of progress.”
Looking back on it, it’s incredible Tennessee finished 2022 with 11 wins.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
