They get angry because Phil turned them in when in reality they should have been angry that a rogue booster put them in a position that enabled him to rat them out in the first place. (do you like that sentence?). The NCAA and the FBI were coming down on this situation like a ton of bricks long before Fulmer got involved, he just decided to make the best of a bad situation.
I have heard that some of the MTV generation are celebrating on campus when Fulmer resigned. And while people were happy (some were not, but many were, probably just like today) the atmosphere on campus certainly wasn’t celebratory. I’m almost sad to hear that people are celebrating. This guy has been part of, and excelling in, competitive sports for over 40 years. It’s never easy to lose, especially for a competitor like that.
This probably needed to be done, but it doesn’t change that a guy who’s given basically his entire life to a program just lost his job. I’m hoping that people never forget what may turn out to be the “heyday” of UT football (95-98). I don’t feel sorry for him from a financial perspective, but he’s still human, and not getting it done has to hurt.



