Phillip Fulmer has been open and honest with the fact that he would like to coach again in the future.  He clearly liked the idea of the Clemson job, but that one went to interim coach Dabo Swinney.

The problem for Fulmer is this: the places he would want to go will be hard-pressed to hire a coach who is 29-21 in his last four years without a conference title in 10 seasons… and the places that would want him and would love to get a coach with a 74% career winning percentage aren’t places he would want to go.

No major BCS program would want to take on a guy who was cast off by his last school.  Those fan bases would look at Fulmer’s 66% winning percentage this decade.

On the flipside, a program like Mississippi State, looking for a proven recruiter that has no NCAA baggage… where Fulmer’s above-average winning percentage would look pretty good… well, that’s not the kind of place Fulmer would probably want to go.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be ringing his phone off the hook if I were MSU athletic director Greg Byrne.

The SEC’s new tv money could affect this, too, of course.  If State would promise Fulmer considerable facility upgrades, good cash for his staff, etc, well, you never know.

But here’s what I see happening: Fulmer will more than likely take this year off.  Then next year, if a program in desperate need of a coach due to NCAA troubles or some other “emergency” contacts him, I think he’ll jump at it.

Let’s say, a Texas A&M, for example, quickly, quickly tires of Mike Sherman and approaches Fulmer.  With family in Texas, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him take that type of job.  Facilities, fan support, solid tradition, BCS conference, good recruiting base, money… A&M might be the perfect fit for Fulmer.

The question is: Would Fulmer have a better “gone to Texas” experience than another Tennessee legend… Davy Crockett?

Sound crazy?  Just remember where you heard it first.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Homepage, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.