Two of the major figures from the 1998 Tennessee football national championship team are back on Rocky Top. Phillip Fulmer is the Vols’ athletic director, and Tee Martin is a wide receivers coach studying under Jeremy Pruitt.
But their paths back into roles with the university were not smooth. Martin lost his job as the USC Trojans offensive coordinator. Fulmer, meanwhile, came back to save the program nearly a decade after he was fired. But how did it come to that?
Arguably one of the most significant figureheads in Tennessee football history, Fulmer may have been undone by one decision dating back to Martin’s arrival on campus back in 1996.