By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Available for part-time work, former Southeastern Conference coaches Tommy Tuberville and Phillip Fulmer would spice up the list of speakers for the Little Rock Touchdown Club.
Antenna always out for new and interesting faces, club president David Bazzel is on the case. Hearing from either at noon on a Monday this fall would be interesting; both would be a bonus.
Organizers leave time at the end of each program for questions from the audience and there would be some doozies for the men who coached at Auburn and Tennessee.
Tuberville, who will be 55 in September, is to work on ESPN’s telecasts of some SEC games this fall. He is on record as saying he still has the itch to coach and to recruit.
“I’m not going to just jump back in it,” he said recently. “I’ve missed it from the day I got out of it.”
Born in Camden, Tuberville went to school at Southern Arkansas University and coached at Arkansas State University. Although he was never a serious candidate to replace Houston Nutt at Arkansas, his name was bandied about.
Considering that background, he could be asked about the Arkansas job down the road, the recruiting of Fort Smith’s Kodi Burns, how the arrival of Nick Saban at Alabama influenced the hiring of an offensive coordinator at Auburn, the damage done by the 25-22 loss to Arkansas and other juicy topics.
Before taking the podium, Fulmer would have to sit through Rex Nelson’s dead-on “Fat Phil” impression, but, after more than 200 games as the Vols’ coach, Fulmer has thick skin.
Four years older than Tuberville, Fulmer is also in the market for the right job. Earlier this year, he said he feels he can coach seven to 10 more years.
“I think a guy with 152 wins, 100 more wins than losses, should have a chance to coach again,” he said a couple of months ago.
Fulmer would never figure in plans at Arkansas, but Tennessee was a fixture on the Razorback schedule from 1992 through 2002 and the teams played some classics. Fulmer could provide a unique perspective on the Vols’ dire straits prior to Clint Stoerner’s fumble in 1998, the Stoerner to Anthony Lucas TD pass the following year when Tennessee was No. 3 and the 2002 game that went into six overtimes because a defensive back ignored Richard Smith when Arkansas was on its 8 in the final minutes.
The availability of Tuberville and-or Fulmer depends on several things, including scheduling conflicts and speaker fees. Some speakers want a tidy sum; others, including former Texas stars James Street and Bob McKay, refused the cash.
The lineup, usually announced in mid-August, comes with built-in staples, including representatives from Arkansas and the University of Central Arkansas. On the job less than a year, Bobby Petrino was unavailable in 2008. He could address the club this year, particularly in early September before his Razorbacks dig in for 11 straight games.
Another possibility is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who would be a nice fit prior to Arkansas-Texas A&M in Jones’ stadium.
Last year, Dan Reeves, Chris Mortenson, Ivan Maisel, Pat Forde and the father of Tim Tebow were among the speakers. Through the years, the biggest crowd showed up for Barry Switzer and the most buzz accompanied Butch Davis, the current North Carolina coach who was unemployed when he spoke 48 hours after Arkansas’ 2005 loss to Vanderbilt.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
