There aren’t many folks in Tennessee Vols history that are more revered than Phillip Fulmer.

Fulmer played at Tennessee, served as an assistant coach for the program for over a decade, led the Vols to a national championship as the head football coach, and even served as UT’s athletic director for a few years.

The end of Fulmer’s tenure as Tennessee’s athletic director came in early 2021 when the program fired head football coach Jeremy Pruitt due to a major recruiting scandal.

Fulmer stepped down as Tennessee’s athletic director after Pruitt was fired. He was replaced by Danny White.

On Thursday, Fulmer joined joined KREF’s The Plank Show and he shared some thoughts on his time as the Volunteers’ athletic director.

Fulmer called his final year as Tennessee’s athletic director one of the most miserable times of his life.

“I loved being an athletic director for five years,” said Fulmer. “The first couple of years were fantastic. We really made some progress, I think, on just getting out of silos and working together with an administration — much like I had it as a coach. And then we had COVID hit, and then we had the social justice issues hit, and then we kind of got sideways with our football coach.

“It was one of the most miserable times in my life. So I have a new appreciation for the athletic directors and all that they do.”

It was certainly a chaotic time at Tennessee. Losses piled up quickly in 2020, and then an extremely embarrassing recruiting scandal (all the talk about McDonald’s bags) received national coverage. It was essentially rock bottom for the program.

Phillip Fulmer says he’s super impressed with Josh Heupel

Fulmer didn’t spend too much time talking about the past during his appearance on KREF.

The former Tennessee coach/athletic director also shared his thoughts on Vols head coach Josh Heupel and the job he’s done since getting hired in 2021.

“I’m super impressed,” said Fulmer of Heupel. “Josh has gotten us into the very thick of the competitive world of college football, and particularly in the Southeastern Conference. I think this conference, from top to bottom, is probably tougher than it’s ever been. And schematically, they do great offensively and defensively. We’ve had a lot of issues with some injuries — particularly on defense — and we’ve got to continue to fight through that. But Josh and his staff have done great. And I think he’s done it absolutely the right way.”

Heupel is one of just three active SEC coaches that’s led an SEC program to the College Football Playoff (along with Steve Sarkisian at Texas and Kirby Smart at Georgia). He may not receive much love from the national media, but it’s clear that Fulmer, one of the great coaches in college football history, approves of the job that Heupel’s done over the last five seasons.

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