University of Tennessee Athletics
Fulmer's Daughters See Father in Different Light
September 24, 2001 | Football
Sept 21, 2001
By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS
AP Sports Writer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - On game days, Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer is nothing like the "teddy bear" his three teen-age daughters see at home.
With the headset on, he is intense and flashes looks to players no daughter or son would want from a father.
But as the last seconds tick off the game clock, Fulmer, the father, shows through again as he grabs his daughter's hand and walks to midfield to meet the opposing coach.
Fulmer's daughters - Courtney, Brittany and Allison - take turns accompanying their father on the sideline at home games for the eighth-ranked Volunteers, who are off this weekend. They run through the "T" at the beginning of the games and then work as ball girls.
Fulmer's wife, Vicky, came up with the idea six years ago, but there was some convincing to do, even with the coach.
"Many thought that the football field was not a place for little girls, but what they didn't understand is that football is a lot of who my dad is," said Fulmer's oldest daughter, Courtney, 18.
"Mom wanted me to have an opportunity to see the side of him I had not yet met," she said. "It was an awesome idea ... and it truly bonded my dad and I."
Sixteen-year-old Brittany said she got "a whole new understanding of the intensity of the game."
"Of course, daddy is not going to be exactly like he is at home," she said. "I am very glad. Some of those looks he gives I hope I never get."
They said the best part of being on the sideline comes at the end when they go with their father to meet the opposing coach at midfield, surrounded by players, television cameras and game officials.
"When the last minute comes and I go find my dad, he gives me a hug and a kiss, and we congratulate each other or say, 'We'll get them next time.' Then he grabs my hand and doesn't let go until we are out of the media," 15-year-old Allison said.
Brittany added: "He always made sure I was by his side at every moment even with all the hectic things that were happening around us."
After seeing other coaches' sons get to work on the sideline when they turned 12, Vicky Fulmer asked in 1995 if Courtney could get permission when she was 12.
"It was real important to me that we didn't leave the girls out of this loop because I really felt some resentment building toward the profession because they never saw their dad," Vicky Fulmer said. "As it turned out, Phillip has really enjoyed having them down there."
The coach said he didn't care for the idea at first because he worried they would get hurt or would hear something not meant for their ears.
"But they have managed themselves. They have been run over a few times and bounced right back up. I imagine they have heard a thing or two," Fulmer said. "It's been really good."
Brittany got quite an earful as a 12-year-old after Tennessee's 38-13 win over Georgia in 1997. At midfield, then-coach Jim Donnan had some choice words for Fulmer, accusing him of running up the score.
"I think it devastated Brittany when she had to witness it, but if anything, it made her stronger," Vicky Fulmer said. "I've never been one to really shield my children. ...I felt they needed to be exposed to what goes on."
That includes how physical the game is. Last season, Allison was accidentally hit by a player running off the field. The only injury was a big grass stain, and Fulmer's didn't even know it happened until Allison told him.
"At first he asked me if I was OK," she said. "Then he told me how I needed to watch out, but then he was like, 'You're a tough girl!"'
Like children of all coaches, the Fulmer daughters learned about football at a young age and knew fight songs before nursery rhymes, Vicky Fulmer said.
They don't question their father's play-calling, though.
"I respect my dad's decision and figure that he knows a lot more about it than I do," Allison said.
After seeing Fulmer on the sideline and dealing with him being away from home so often, they understand how stressful his job can be.
"Dad has such a tough schedule and to this day I still don't know how he keeps up with everything. I admire all he does and accomplishes in one day, but I don't think I could ever do it," Brittany said.
But she has achieved her own athletic success. Brittany won the state diving championships in February for Maryville High School.
Courtney, a freshman at UT, plans to spend most game days with her family in the press box this season. Brittany and Allison will alternate home games on the sidelines, watching from the stands between turns.
The daughters have almost grown out of the tradition and would rather be with their friends, but Fulmer hopes to have them on the sidelines a little while longer.
"I would miss them," he said. "We've got at least four more years, I guess, but now we have boyfriends and other things that are important."
