Fulmer: Fulminated

Phil Fulmer is out at Tennesee, according to a source-y report from ESPN's Chris Low. This comes as little surprise as the Vols are in real danger of a second losing season in four years. (The biggest shock of all to some Orange partisans may have been who reported it.)

If this really is the end, the reflection, rumination and rumor-mongoring will have only just begun. The coaching carousel will now be launching into hyperdrive, and once it stops, the debate over whether a tectonic shift has occured in the SEC East will begin in earnest. I will gleefully take part in this discussion.

But it should not go without saying that for more than a decade, Fulmer was among college football's elite coaches. As time passes, he'll probably be remembered more for the good times -- most notably the 1998 national championship -- than anything that happened since. For now, though, the only fresh emotion on the banks of the Tennessee is pain. Part of it has been a decline in recruiting -- including one big recent flop -- and part of it has been off-the-field trouble. I even addressed the concept of stagnation in an earlier post. But these things only fed into the main problem: The Vols just don't win enough games anymore. Sometimes it is as elementary as that.