I know I heard Spurrier said he was about to turn Logan Young in but Fulmer beat him to the punch.
But I think the biggest reason Phil doing it was worst than Spurrier doing it was because it was Tennessee and he was practically doing the same thing ever since he back stabbed his way into the Tennessee job. I think I’ve only cheered once for Nebraska in my lifetime and it was vs Tennessee.
My two favorite wins vs Tennessee are 02 and 07.
This ^^^
Spurrier DID report Dumbose to the NZAA - but he was barking up the wrong tree. An OL - and a pretty good one - Justin Smiley, got a new Pickup truck soon after announcing he was choosing UA over Floriduh. The "optics" were TERRIBLE (in Steve's opinion).
Thing is, Smiley's parents were well off, and had the receipts to prove they bought the truck with their own money.
During the 1990's Phil was actually running
THE Dirtiest program in the SEC - which is saying a MOUTHFUL for any team in the same conference as aubarn!!!!
That's why he was so eager to act as a "Secret Witness" to - as he bragged - put Alabama "out of business".
Among other things:
- Prominent UcheaT boosters (like Roy "Tennstud" Adams) have publicly admitted that Fulmer was buying players in Memphis and across West TN and east Ark. Adams was officially "Dissociated" (wink,wink) for those statements, but UcheaT was never punished.
- QB Tee Martin was paid a CASH Salary via secret Western Union transfers, funded by a UcheaT "Fan" in Mobile, Dianne Sanford. She even bought him a Chevy Tahoe. This was completely exposed by the local newspaper down here - and all parties involved eventually ADMITTED IT!!! But the NZAA "Conveniently" ruled that Sanford was NOT a "Booster" - again, imagine heavy
Air Quotes here - so the cash salary and other benefits were not a "Violation"!!! ....
- A tenured UT professor, Linda Bensel-Meyers, alleged a long-standing pattern of violations, including rampant cheating and academic fraud by scholarship athletes, a pattern of sexual assaults by UT athletes, and even large scale Grade fixing BY THE UNIVERSITY REGISTRAR!!! (but she ONLY went public after years of internal complaints were IGNORED). The NZAA looked the other way, and Dr. Bensel-Meyers was subjected to a pattern of abuse and intimidation that cost her her marriage, and lead her to walk away from her TENURED Faculty position - something almost Unheard Of in American Academia!
- Of particular note - upwards of 12 or more scholarship football players on the UcheaT 1998 team were able to maintain Bowl "Eligibility" despite flunking Fall Semester classes due to the Registrar's admitted practice of AUTOMATICALLY changing all "F" grades of Scholarship Athletes to "Incomplete" - THINK ABOUT THAT ONE FOR JUST A MINUTE!!!!!!
- Fulmer even actively covered up an "Alleged" RAPE of a mentally impaired minor by UT player Antwan Stewart. Thanks to Fulmer's PERSONAL intervention (including "alleged" witness intimidation) Stewart was never changed, and never missed a single play at UcheaT.
Mind you - Almost all of this above (and 10 times more that I'm not posting) ONLY saw the light of day due to the work of Attorney Tommy Gallion on behalf of former UA assistants Ivy Williams and Ronnie Cottrell - both of whom saw their careers wrecked due to the NZAA investigation and penalties. Despite this fact, Gallion is frequently mocked and ridiculed, even by UA fans, for his courageous work that uncovered the truth about phil fulmer....