Phillip Fulmer's Name Being Circulated For Notre Dame Head Coach Job

Sports News - December 4th, 2009 - Written by John

With a vacancy sign hanging over the door of one of the most prestigious offices in college football, several names have been passed around as a possible replacement of Charlie Weis at Notre Dame.

Most owners of those names would probably prefer avoid the scrutiny, with their teams focusing on upcoming bowl games, but there is one name that has no reason to be sheepish about his interest in the job.

That would be Phillip Fulmer, who is currently unemployed and itching to get back into the sport.

The Chicago Sun Times recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said of Fulmer:

"I know he's interested, and he's an aggressive, relentless recruiter," Lemming said. "He would bring in a real good staff, and he's a relentless worker."

But only for a job at a school like Notre Dame.

"I'm not going to put myself and my family in a position where I'm going to a place that is a stepping-stone, a place that doesn't have a history of doing well," Fulmer said in a phone interview. "I'm looking for a place that has some history. If I have to sit or not coach that's kind of the way it's going to be I guess."

History is something Notre Dame certainly has, but not a memorable one as of late. The most storied college football program in history fired Charlie Weis last week and is accepting applications. Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick insisted that the search will being immediately and left no time frame, saying that the search will be open ended until they feel they have found the right candidate to lead the Irish back to prominence.

Fulmer would bring a proven track record of success to the Fighting Irish program.

Fulmer began his coaching Journey with Tennessee back in 1980 as an assistant, the took over as the schools' head coach in 1993, leading the Vol's to a National Title in 1998, the first ever BCS Championship game.

Throughout the majority of his tenure at Tennessee his teams were consistently competing for conference and National Championships in the extremely difficult Southeastern Conference. Fulmer knows how to build and stay at the top year in and year out, which is something that Notre Dame has been missing since the Lou Holtz era.

Notre Dame finished the season at 6-6 in the College Football Standings. While Notre Dame is bowl eligible, it is unknown if they will accept an invitation at this time.