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Phil Fulmer gets 4-year extension as Tennessee's athletic director

Phil Fulmer coached Tennessee to the 1999 BCS Championship. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski, File)
Phil Fulmer coached Tennessee to the 1999 BCS Championship. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski, File)

Phil Fulmer will be sticking around for a while as Tennessee’s athletic director.

The school announced Thursday that the former football coach had received a four-year extension as athletic director. Fulmer took over as the school’s AD officially on Dec. 1 and was the AD when Tennessee ultimately hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt to be its next football coach.

Fulmer was named the school’s athletic director after John Currie’s dismissal. Currie fired Butch Jones as the Vols’ coach with two weeks left in the season and his search for the school’s next coach didn’t go well. According to documents obtained in an FOIA request earlier this spring, Currie was summoned back from Los Angeles where he had been meeting with Washington State coach Mike Leach about the job.

Currie was dismissed not long after he got back to Knoxville.

“I am very grateful to Chancellor [Beverly] Davenport for the opportunity to continue to serve our outstanding university and its proud legacy,” Fulmer said in a Tennessee statement. “The positive momentum established by our talented student-athletes, dedicated coaches, excellent staff, our great alumni and fans has united us all. I am excited to work alongside them as we push forward in pursuit of excellence in all sports.”

Fulmer was the team’s coach when Tennessee won the inaugural BCS championship. The Vols beat Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl following an undefeated 1998 season. He parted ways with the school as the football coach after a 5-7 season in 2008 and finished his Tennessee coaching career with a 152-52 record.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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