Realignment, NIL, portal all ‘Fulmerized’
LOUDON COUNTY — In the midst of his annual fundraising golf classic at Landmark at Avalon Country Club just west of Farragut, recently, College Hall of Famer Phillip Fulmer tackled a question on conference realignment, then took a swing at questions on the wide-open yearly transfer portal and NIL/player payment issues in college football and college athletics as a whole.
“Realignment has probably been coming for a while,” said the former Tennessee Football head coach of 16-plus seasons who led the 1998 Vols to a national championship and two SEC crowns. “Lots of discussions on how it could happen, and there’s a lot yet to be resolved with all the NIL stuff and the portal stuff. I think all that’s part of realignment. It’s not going to change.
“Hopefully, it’ll get better because there are lots of holes in this that I don’t think anybody likes, except maybe the prospects and parents,” he added with a laugh.
Moreover, “You really have issues that are out there that are not being talked about, probably with Title IX issues, minor sports issues,” said Fulmer, also a former All-SEC guard at UT (1969-71). “How do you manage that? I’m not in that world anymore, but I know that there’s a lot of consultation on what’s going to happen.
“I think there’s got to be some clarity with this because it’s probably unsustainable over a period of time,” he added. “But the rules are what they are, and the Supreme Court says, ‘You’ve got to do this,’ so the coaches have no choice but to be in this world. And I’m sure they would like a lot of things cleared up if they can.”
As for head coaches and coaching staffs continuously having to navigate all the recent-years’ changes, “It’s really hard,” Fulmer said. “But the other side of that coin is you’re basically entering into a contract that a kid can leave when he wants to during special times.”
Fulmer, however, also pointed out “some pluses on the coaches side,” too, with student/athletes’ scholarship remaining only a one school-year guarantee.
“At the same time, the coach can ask a person to leave,” he said. “Back in the day, you counted them coming in and you counted them going out. You had graduation issues, things like that.
“If a coach doesn’t like what a kid is doing from an effort standpoint or behavior standpoint, or maybe he’s just not good, the coach can encourage the kid to leave, too,” Fulmer added. “A coach has a chance to improve his roster every year.
“… But now everybody’s just coming and going with free agency, if you will.”
His bottom line? “I would rather not have all the movement,” Fulmer said. “That doesn’t make sense to anybody, I don’t think.”
About the Pac-12 Conference essentially dissolving, with 10 of the 12 former member schools headed to the Big Ten (UCLA, Southern Cal, Oregon and Washington), Big XII (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) and Atlantic Coast Conference (Stanford and Cal-Berkeley), “I don’t think that was in anybody’s mirror, right?” the Hall of Famer asked.
“You couldn’t see that happening, but it tells you the power of the dollar,” he added. “It’s a money thing.”
