Dead Man Walking

Could change be in the air on "The Hill"?

According to a post on OutermonVOLia from AtlantaVol, the signs are pointing to the end of the current regime.

"I dare not get my hopes up too far after all these years and especially after Hamilton caved into pressure and gave Knoxville Phil the chance to write his own contract a few months ago. But ALL the signs point to this being the final season of UT fans having their teeth slowly pulled out without any anesthesia, which is what it has been like to watch UT FB under this creep HC. And then for years he has said these stupid-assed things to the press that just pour salt in the wound.

But look at all the signs now and tell me you haven't seen this before in hundreds of cases when the HC is a Dead Man Walking as a HC?

1) Lose to a terrible UCLA team and struggle with UAB who is terrible on defense. Then get blown off your home field for 2nd year in a row of blowout loss to one of your 2-3 main rivals. This comes on top of a 9 year slide and the 2005 season. This comes on top of the poor recruiting in 2006 and again this year 2008. Even the announcers are now saying UT simply doesn't have the talent to hang with better teams. All of this isn't lost on virtually ANYONE now. When TV announcers start saying what we have said for years and virtually every newspaper writer in the entire state is calling for an end to this regime THEN the fan base starts to really get on board. And when they do then it is very hard to get off. IMO it will take a 3-1 record against AU, UGA, AL, and USC to save his ass. IMO a 2-2 record will not do it.

2) Players start parroting the same silly things a HC is saying. They are also dissing the fans and saying a lot of nonsense. These are young guys who see their HC in disarray and they have no experience on how to handle this. You saw the EXACT same thing at Miami about 2 years ago and you saw it with UGA players when Donnan was released. There will be even more bluster from players as the season goes IMO. Many will threaten to transfer if Fulllmer is released but in fact very few, if any, will actually do so. But the way the players are reacting is CLASSIC for when a HC is a Dead Man Walking.

3) And then the quotes by Philll Fulllmer. They are absolutely CLASSIC for a HC who is a Dead Man Walking. He starts to take responsibility for his teams poor play but quickly throws the punter under the bus and then defiantly says "we didn't all of a sudden become stupid around here". He also points out the 148 wins at every chance he gets. he THEN essentially says the fans are "stupid" and they shouldn't be booing if they haven't played sports. He gets his dander up every time he opens his mouth. This is just CLASSIC for a HC who knows the end is near.

4) I have heard that even his buddies like Karl Schledwitz are backing off and playing politician with this. They are scurrying for cover and trying to let
someone else be the hammer to Fulmer but they are doing nothing to stop the hammer from being dropped.

5) And then the fan base is FINALLY coming around. As CBFD says below- our fan base has had the Batterred Wife Syndrome soooooo bad the last 5-6 years. I talk to fans and even kinfolk who are not stupid people but they parrot the crazy feelings that UT is hosed because of a poor recruiting base. They say that PF is a good man and a Tennessean. They strongly suggest that we simply can't do any better than Fulllmer. They fear the unknown big time! I have a relative who has been dumping on Trooper Taylor and just parroting the VC line which I am convinced was put out by Fullmer himself. The fan base has been just a huge collection of wussies who are "sheepish" and defend the indefensable for years. But NOW even the diehards have become to grow some nads and want to "divorce" the guy who has been beating them into submission for years.

I am starting to get my hopes up that we will be FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST!!!!!!! !"