Fulmer won't coach Tennessee after becoming AD

Phillip Fulmer ruled himself out as a coaching candidate for Tennessee, as the Hall of Famer was reintroduced Friday as the school's new athletic director.

"I will not serve as the interim head coach or the head coach," Fulmer said at his first press conference, according to Mike Griffith of SEC Country. "I've done my duty in that way."

Fulmer, 67, coached the Volunteers from 1992-2008, collecting the program's most recent national championship in 1998 along the way.

As athletic director, he'll be tasked with resuming a coaching search that reached comedic territory under his predecessor, John Currie. The latter was ousted from his job less than a year into his tenure, after he unsuccessfully offered the job to a bundle of candidates.

"We must first find a coach who wants to be at Tennessee," added Fulmer, according to ESPN's Mark Schlabach.

While the search under Currie clearly went haywire, the Vols appeared set to hire Mike Leach from Washington State before Fulmer intervened. Reports then emerged that Fulmer had been undermining Currie all along, positioning himself to take over his job.