KNOXVILLE – Phillip Fulmer is quite familiar with the territory Jeremy Pruitt is navigating, but he recognizes there is an important distinction to make about their tenures as Tennessee’s football coach.
“When I took over, it was like here,” Fulmer said Thursday, holding his hand near his chest, “and we went to here,” the Tennessee athletic director continued, raising his hand a bit higher.
In 1992, Fulmer was named head coach of a team that had lost a total of six games its previous three seasons. He led the Volunteers to a national championship in his sixth full season.
Pruitt took over a program that lost eight games in 2017.
“So it’s a whole different dynamic, and it’s going to take time and a couple recruiting classes, then we all want to be back in the championship axis,” Fulmer said. “That’s our goal.”