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re: Which “UT” coach was better? Phil Fulmer or Mack Brown?
Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:14 am to VFL67
Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:14 am to VFL67
It's really kinda hard to say who was better
On the other hand, Mack Brown mostly had Texas in the good/not great range.
quote:Offhand, I would guess most of those guys had winning records vs Fulmer. His success was more in the 90's, battling and mostly losing to Florida. When those other guys came around, they beat Tennessee.
While at Tennessee, Fulmer went against Saban, Spurrier, Richt, Stallings, Holtz, Tuberville, Miles, and Urban all in conference
On the other hand, Mack Brown mostly had Texas in the good/not great range.
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Posted on 7/7/25 at 6:27 am to MizzouTrue
Close call. Both programs also went south before finally crashing and burning.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:16 am to MizzouTrue
If their best teams played each other, 2005 Texas would embarrass 1998 Tennessee.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:23 am to SneezyBeltranIsHere
quote:
If their best teams played each other, 2005 Texas would embarrass 1998 Tennessee.
Big difference between the best record and the best team. I will say that you do give off a lot of LSU vibes. "IF only Colt didn't get hurt" kinda vibes.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:26 am to SneezyBeltranIsHere
quote:
If their best teams played each other, 2005 Texas would embarrass 1998 Tennessee.
Vince Young wasn't that good man. He had 1 good year. He was 1-2 vs OU and needed a miracle to beat Kansas in that Mark Mangino BCS dollar signs game.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:35 am to MizzouTrue
Fulmer was better
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:49 am to MizzouTrue
That's a good question. I used to compare Mack to Phil all the time. Both had a lot of success. I don't know if Phil was as thin skinned as Mack because I didn't follow Tennessee much at all. I'm sure someone here can answer that. Was Phil owned by another coach as completely as Mack was owned by Stoops? That stretch from 2000-2004 was brutal.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 7:56 am to Lucas Ryan
-Fulmer went 11-4 (7 game win streak) against Bama
-Fulmer went 11-6 (8 game win streak) against UGA
Idk a coach who has dominated both UGA and Bama like Fulmer did. He owns the longest win streaks a coach has had against either one of those programs. Mack Brown as a whole was probably a better builder of programs, but Fulmer coached in a harder conference against better coaches, programs, and players. Only Florida really had his number, and they had everyone's number then.
Overall its probably is a pretty close call. Both underachieved in my opinion given the talent they had on their teams. Neither of them were ever the best coach in their conference.
-Fulmer went 11-6 (8 game win streak) against UGA
Idk a coach who has dominated both UGA and Bama like Fulmer did. He owns the longest win streaks a coach has had against either one of those programs. Mack Brown as a whole was probably a better builder of programs, but Fulmer coached in a harder conference against better coaches, programs, and players. Only Florida really had his number, and they had everyone's number then.
Overall its probably is a pretty close call. Both underachieved in my opinion given the talent they had on their teams. Neither of them were ever the best coach in their conference.
This post was edited on 7/7/25 at 8:02 am
Posted on 7/7/25 at 8:29 am to MizzouTrue
Mack Brown because he was a winner at two schools. One of them was a afterthought as a football program
Posted on 7/7/25 at 8:59 am to MizzouTrue
It's clearly Mack Brown IMO. Made two national championship games compared to one for Fulmer. Had six top 5 finishes at Texas compared to three top 5 finishes for Fulmer. Had three BCS bowl victories compared to one for Fulmer. And top it all off, Fulmer had a 2-7 record against his big rival, Spurrier's Florida while Mack Brown was 6-9 against Bob Stoops' Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 9:08 am to Bench McElroy
Fulmer was actually 3-7 against Spurrier in the Tennessee vs Florida games. But Fulmer was 42-5 against Tennessee's 3 main rivals (Bama, Vandy, and UK). What Fulmer was going against with Spurrier and Florida was tougher than Stoops and OU.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:01 am to Dr Rosenrosen
quote:
Mack Brown. He turned around three programs. Tulane went from 1 win in 1985 to 6 wins in 1987. He did a great job at both UNC (first stint) and Texas.
In the 3 years before Mack Brown took over, Tulane's record was 9-24. In his 3 years at Tulane, their record was 11-23.
He did turn UNC around...but it wasn't overnight. In the 5 years preceding Mack Brown's tenure as HC (First stint at UNC), UNC's record was 30-25-1. In Mack Brown's first 5 seasons at UNC, his record was 28-31-1. He benefited from the era...not many coaches today would have survived a 2-20 record in their first 2 seasons.
Fulmer took over a much better situation...still, he had 2 seasons at or below .500 (non-winning record seasons), and in those seasons, his records were 5-7 and 5-6. Mack Brown had 8 seasons at or below .500 with records of: 1-10; 4-7; 6-6; 1-10; 1-10; 5-7; 6-7; 6-6.
If you examine Fulmer's losing seasons, they would include the 5-7 season in 2008 with an OT loss at UCLA and a 2 point loss at Auburn...so pretty close to finishing above .500. His other sub-.500 season (2005 5-6) included a 3 point loss at Alabama, and a 1 point loss to South Carolina. They were still losing seasons with losses that should have been wins, but he never finished more than 1 game below .500 in a 16 year career.
It was mentioned earlier that the Big-12 that Mack Brown coached against was much stronger than the Big-12 before its collapse. Let's look at how many National Champions came from the conferences these 2 coached in to give an overall picture of relative in-conference competition:
Mack Brown
1988 - 1997 - ACC - 1993 (FSU)
1998 - 2013 - Big 12 - 2000 (Oklahoma) - 2005, Brown's Texas Team won it all.
2019 - 2024 - ACC - None
So, Brown's conference won 3 NCs (including his own) over the 32 seasons while he was HC at UNC and Texas
Phillip Fulmer
1993 - 2008 - SEC - 1996 (Florida); 2003 (LSU shared); 2006 (Florida) - 2007 (LSU) - 2008 (Florida) - 1998 Fulmer's Tennessee Team won it all
Not giving Fulmer credit for the 1992 Bama team, since Fulmer did not coach UT the entire season and did not coach against Alabama.
So, Fulmer's conference won 6 NCs (including his own) during the 16 seasons while he was HC at Tennessee.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:14 am to Wishbone85
quote:
Mack Brown lost to OU 63-14 then followed it up with another loss to OU 65-13.. I know Fulmer had his Florida problem and Payton Manning never beat them but he wasn't getting beat badly like that.
There were some games under Fulmer where Gata ran all over the VOLS.
1994
1995
2007
2008
Posted on 7/7/25 at 10:38 am to MizzouTrue
quote:
Who was better?
Mack stopped giving a frick when he got a title and allowed the culture rot to set in. He refused to step down when it was clearly over and had to be forced out. Then he shite-talked the program to the recruiting class and told them to sign somewhere else, basically doing everything he could to damage the program on his way out.
Yeah, I'd say Fulmer was better.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 11:40 am to MizzouTrue
Phil's winning percentage is 0.743 (all at Tennessee). Mack's is 0.767 (just at Texas). I don't care how he was at Tulane or UNC (though it is noteworthy how he turned around UNC).
Phil's bowl record is 0.533. Mack's is 0.667 (just at Texas).
Phil has three top 5 AP poll finishes. Mack has five (all at Texas).
Those give me a nod to Brown.
Phil's bowl record is 0.533. Mack's is 0.667 (just at Texas).
Phil has three top 5 AP poll finishes. Mack has five (all at Texas).
Those give me a nod to Brown.
This post was edited on 7/7/25 at 11:42 am
Posted on 7/7/25 at 11:45 am to n64ra
Both had great teams that didn’t win their divisions (95 and 96 Tennessee, and 04 and 08 Texas)
Stoops and Spurrier really made it hard on them.
Stoops and Spurrier really made it hard on them.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 5:54 pm to Wishbone85
It was really windy that day.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 8:24 pm to MizzouTrue
If Colt McCoy wasn't knocked out of the game in the first half, then Mack would have two natties at Texas.
Posted on 7/7/25 at 8:30 pm to Ramblin American
"knocked out" 
Posted on 7/7/25 at 8:31 pm to n64ra
quote:
Phil's winning percentage is 0.743 (all at Tennessee). Mack's is 0.767 (just at Texas). I don't care how he was at Tulane or UNC (though it is noteworthy how he turned around UNC).
Phil's bowl record is 0.533. Mack's is 0.667 (just at Texas).
Phil has three top 5 AP poll finishes. Mack has five (all at Texas).
Those give me a nod to Brown.
And most importantly, Mack Brown isn't a snitch like Fat Phil.
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