WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsFulmer happy to wait for "perfect scenario"

Paul Shahen
Channel 3 Eyewitness Sports Reporter

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- Since parting ways with the University of Tennessee three years ago, Phillip Fulmer's name has been linked to jobs at Louisville, UConn and Kansas, as well as a dozen more that didn't go on the record.

But as each position was filled, the former Vols' head coach sat in East Tennessee surrounded by family, as content as he's ever been, not ready to coach again.

But also not ready to rule it out.

"I miss it every day, I miss coaching every day," Fulmer said last week in a one-on-one interview with Channel 3. "It would have to be the perfect scenario, and I just haven't run into the perfect one before I would coach again."

During his visit to the Garden Plaza at Greenbriar Cove, an assisted and independent living facility in Collegedale, Fulmer admitted that perfect scenario may never come.

If that's the case, he said he'd be just fine.

He never got the chance to ride off into the sunset on his own terms, but considering the current state UT athletics, Fulmer is happy to have been a part of the happiest recent memories for a proud program -- especially the 1998 BCS National Championship.

"It has been a miserable three or four years for Tennessee athletics in general," Fulmer said. "I think our leadership has changed for the better. Hopefully (Tennessee head coach) Derek (Dooley) can take their lead and get it to where it needs to be."

Fulmer is all too familiar with the days when less than ten wins wouldn't cut it on Rocky Top. He does not believe it's not his place to critique the job currently being done by Dooley, but noted he always keeps a close eye on Tennessee's recruiting. 

"We took recruiting very seriously, it's the life blood of an organization," Fulmer said. "We were fortunate to keep our staff together for a long time. That's another set of challenges that Coach Dooley is facing, but it's his job to get over those hurdles."

Just this week Dooley rounded out his coaching staff, naming defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley as his sixth and final new hire in a busy offseason. Two days earlier, the Vols wrapped up a consensus top 25 recruiting class on National Signing Day.

For Fulmer, the memories of a storied career are numerous, but he admits one always stands above the rest.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the win over Florida State in the BCS National Championship game.

Fulmer recalled the 1998 win over Arkansas in which Razorbacks' quarterback Clint Stoerner had a key fumble that helped the Vols avoid an upset and stay on course for the national title game.

The moments after the final second ticked off the clock, Fulmer said time simply froze.

"I was standing in space for seconds but it felt like minutes," he recalled. "The fans were rushing on the field. everybody was hugging me. I felt the presence of my father who died in 1989.

"It was an unbelievable, emotional feeling that I will never forget."