TV ads featuring Fulmer are uncharted territory
KNOXVILLE — After nearly two decades as football coach at the University of Tennessee, Phillip Fulmer is used to reporters clamoring to ask him questions during a news conference.
It’s probably safe to say none of those questions had to do with window repairs.
But if you’ve tuned in to local television lately, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Fulmer, now UT’s athletic director, promoting Hullco, a Chattanooga-based window repair company, during a mock news conference.
“East Tennessee needs a good home improvement com- pany,” Fulmer says in the ad. “I trust my home to Hullco and you should too.”
The appearance of a sitting athletic director in a commercial is unusual, as coaches are usually the most sought after for endorsements.
Officials with UT and an outside expert said there’s nothing improper about the arrangement, and it doesn’t violate NCAA rules.
Still, it raises questions about potential conflicts of interest and
who gets to profit from college athletics — not just at Tennessee, but across the country.
“I don’t have a problem with Phil Fulmer getting these endorsements,” said B. David Ridpath, associate professor of sports business at Ohio University and president of The Drake Group, which advocates for integrity in college sports.
“I’m not saying if I was in charge of a school I would want my athletic director doing it, but certainly coaches are going to want to do it and augment their income. For me, the larger question is, why aren’t we letting the athletes do it?”
Whether an athletic director — or anyone else at UT — holds endorsements is of public interest because endorsements could pose a conflict of interest for business the university does or with other products or services it endorses.
The content of an ad or endorsement could also portray the university in a way it wouldn’t want to be seen.
Employees at the university are required to file paperwork annually disclosing sources of outside income, such as personal endorsements.
But because Fulmer hasn’t been in his current job at the university for a full year, he hasn’t had to file the paperwork yet, said athletics department spokesman Tom Satkowiak.
Still, he said Fulmer has two outside endorsements the university is aware of. In addition to the Hullco ad, he also has an endorsement with Synodrin, a vitamin supplement.
In that ad, Fulmer blows the whistle on a potato chip-eating couple, encouraging them to get off the couch, use Synodrin and get healthy.
Fulmer declined to comment to USA Today Network - Tennessee for this story.
He earns an annual salary of $575,000. He also receives benefits including $30,000 in annual expenses, eight Neyland Stadium skybox tickets for home football games and a monthly vehicle allowance of $1,600.
Satkowiak would not say how much income Fulmer makes from the endorsements.
Both arrangements predate Fulmer’s appointment to athletic director as well as a previous position he held when he was named as special adviser to UT President Joe DiPietro last June, Satkowiak said. He said the university has approved of both endorsements and they don’t pose any conflict-of-interest issues.
Still, the arrangements and potential for others have raised questions about how the university will handle endorsements for Fulmer in the future.
Currently, there are six companies the university calls its “Corporate Champions.” They include First Tennessee Bank, Verizon, UT Medical Center, Coca-Cola, Farm Bureau Insurance and Nike.
Entry into the club is based primarily on financial sponsorship. The companies get benefits in return, such as exclusive access to head coaches that lower-level sponsors don’t get.
In the past, most sponsors haven’t expressed interest in having the endorsement of an athletics director, but with Fulmer, that could change.
“There are plenty of former coaches who have risen to AD positions who have had somewhat of a celebrity status, but this is the first time at Tennessee this has taken place,” said Vol Network General Manager Steve Early.
He said the university is still working through discussions on how to handle endorsement offers for an athletics director going forward.
It’s safe to say any direct competitors of the Corporate Champions would be off-limits for Fulmer, though.
His contract states that UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport must give prior approval to personal endorsements to ensure they don’t conflict with university contracts or with contracts entered into by the university’s multimedia rights or apparel partners.
Ryan Robinson, a spokesman for Davenport, said she has approved of his current endorsements and that as a “former coach and well known figure” in Tennessee, there wouldn’t be anything unusual or unethical about Fulmer holding personal endorsements, despite simultaneously serving in a high-profile public sector job.
“I think it’s perfectly ethical to look at what opportunities are out there and if they make sense to do ’em,” Early said. “If they don’t, we won’t. We’ve always been very selective with how we utilize our coaches.
“As far as [Fulmer’s] endorsement scenario, it’s not been a major topic of discussion with either of us. We have a fantastic working relationship and we did going back to the days when he was coach. So I think we are both very comfortable that we’ll address the topic and arrive at an approach that makes sense for the school.”
Fulmer’s road to athletics director is already unusual. After initially being overlooked for the post during a national search by Davenport, he was named to the job on Dec. 1 when former athletic director John Currie was suspended.
The university hasn’t given specifics on the reason for Currie’s suspension and he remains on paid leave, Robinson said last week.
Ridpath, the professor from Ohio University, said as long as the university approves of outside endorsements, there’s nothing improper about it, though he said schools might want to keep a close eye on the endorsements for which their employees are being sought.
NCAA rules prohibit college athletes from earning salaries, having endorsements and playing for or having contracts with professional teams, though they are allowed access to free health care, tuition for those receiving scholarships and other benefits.
“You have these coaches and athletic directors, if they’re popular enough, who can go out and get this endorsement money in addition to their large salaries, but yet we’re restricting the athletes,” Ridpath said. “I think from a fairness perspective, that’s what’s really wrong with the whole thing.”