MESSAGE FROM THE GREAT PUMPKIN

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...

Dear Tennessee Fans,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the great support you give our team. Your passion and pride for our program is what makes us special!

This year was a disappointing season for everyone in the Tennessee family. We started this season with great expectations and failed to live up to those expectations. I assure you that no one is happy about our season -- especially me, and I know that our fans deserve better than what we produced this year.

Now that the season is over, I am taking a step back and re-evaluating the entire program. We're doing a lot of things well _ especially our defense, but obviously not enough. We grossly underachieved offensively, and special teams were erratic at best. As I've said before, the results this year are unacceptable and accountability starts with me.

My staff and I have great determination to get things back on track. In order to get things turned around, we first have to look at what happened this season. I'm doing a complete audit of everything in our program. No stone will be left unturned and no question left unanswered as to what went wrong.

I've taken some steps already and others are in short order. I have made some coaching changes to move forward. I feel the addition of David Cutcliffe as offensive coordinator is a great step forward for us. He is a great football coach, but better yet he's a leader and teacher. He will challenge our thinking, be creative with our offense and very demanding of our players.

I appreciate the support and patience I've received from the administration and Tennessee fans everywhere to make the adjustments I need to make to get back to where I believe we should be. We have had many great moments, games and seasons together and will again. Tennessee football is about pride, and it's my first priority to restore that pride.

Go Vols!

Phillip Fulmer

UPDATE: Pumpkin not getting a raise or extension this year.

IT'S OFFICIAL

Cut is back to kick "this much" ass.


Two-year contract, base salary of $275,000, plus $25,000 for media and apparel.

Also, here's some fun assistant speculation (after the Ainge garbage).

THREE JUNIORS SUBMITTING NFL PAPERWORK

Defensive tackle Justin Harrell and offensive linemen Arron Sears and Rob Smith. Nothing final -- just getting assessments of their potential draft status.

Harrell's stock is considered the highest. Rob Smith says he's "disappointed and mad" that Jimmy Ray Stephens was fired and that that could influence his decision. Perhaps he should focus his ire on the patheticness that was the 2005 VOLS and make up for it next year. Just a thought.

If Harrell goes, Chavis will be replacing the entire front seven.

TROUBLE FOR DEMETRICE

His junior year at Miami Killian, Demetrice Morley got three Fs and had a 2.09 core GPA. He needed a 2.75 to qualify. So he took seven correspondence courses from University High School and got all As and Bs, raising his core GPA to exactly 2.75.


A classic bootstraps story. Just one problem. The New York times reports: "University High has no classes and no educational accreditation." Hmmm.

ARIAN FOSTER TO GO UNDER THE KNIFE

Needs surgery on his knee -- meniscus damage.


He's also likely to have surgery on at least one shoulder, meaning he'll miss spring practice. But the late-season horse should be back by August.

TOSS THE BUMS OUT

Adios, Jimmy Ray. Adios, Pat. (Story)

Cutcliffe precondition?

COOTER PLAYS

Ole Jim Bob got hisself in for one snap. As a receiver. Real-life receiver Lucas Taylor took the snap on some kind of trick sneak.

We'll say it again: Give the man the goddam football.

PRAISE JESUS

That bullshit season is over.


Exactly.