Reflecting on an End of an Era

I've been wanting to talk about this topic for a while but life has kind of taken me away for a little bit. But I have some time so I'll use it now for that.

In recent weeks, I learned that the two coaches of teams I root for will not be coming back next season. Tyrone Willingham at Washington and Philip Fulmer at Tennessee. I have varying feelings about both.

In the case of Willingham, I'm very disappointed. Personally, I don't think he got a fair shake. He was trying to rebuild a program that was pretty much down in the dumps. In my time in Seattle, I saw a team that was willing to play for him and if there hadn't been some injuries here and there (along with some bad refereeing) he would have made a bowl game at least once, maybe twice. I only got to watch about two games this year (BYU, Oklahoma) so I can't really gauge the difference as to why they're winless. What I do know is it's sad that he's not going to be back and the next coach is going to have a tough time.

In the case of Fulmer, I'm not really surprised. Ever since my senior year of college (2001-02), he has really had a hard time. The team off the field has had multiple problems (not recently but a few years ago) and the team on the field has had similar problems. In 2005, they missed going to a bowl game for the first time since 1988 and this year they're on track to do it again. It has been really frustrating because in the big game the team seems to way underachieve. Personally, I thought he should have been fired at least two times earlier. But I do like him and I'm glad for the way he has carried himself. It's very rare to see the loyalty that he showed to the school that he has spent such a long time at first as a player, then assistant head coach, then head coach. I'm sure he'll stick around in some capacity as an administrator. I do hope the next coach they bring in will be someone who can compete not only for the SEC championship but the national championship.