Thanks, Phil

I spent my formative years in Clinton, Tennessee, about seventeen miles from Knoxville, and my blood turns orange with the leaves every fall. It didn't really come as a surprise, but I have to say I was disappointed when the University of Tennessee actually fired head football coach Phillip Fulmer. I know Fulmer's record the last few years hasn't been quite what we UT fans have come to expect, but he still has one of the highest winning percentages of active coaches--number five, the last time I checked. I have real difficulty believing the program can recruit a coach who can do better than that. Coach Fulmer has handled the situation with class, as he has always done, so I'll try to do the same.

Thanks, Coach Fulmer. Thanks for seventeen good years. Thanks for 150 wins, each one sweet in its own special way. Thanks for the National Championship. Thanks for always being the kind of guy who, win or lose, makes Tennessee look good. I'll miss you.