Tennessee Vols AD Phillip Fulmer quietly received a contract extension in May. Here are the details.

Tennessee athletics director Phillip Fulmer quietly received a two-year contract extension in May while preparing his department for financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fulmer’s extension had, until now, gone unreported and was not announced by Tennessee.

The extension means Fulmer’s contract runs through Dec. 31, 2023.

“Athletics Director Fulmer and I began discussing a contract extension in late 2019, and we put finalizing the extension on hold while we focused on COVID response,” Chancellor Donde Plowman said in a statement to Knox News.

“Having stable leadership of Tennessee Athletics has been important, especially in these uncertain times. Phillip was the first to voluntarily take a 15 percent salary reduction in response to COVID-related budget constraints in Athletics. I appreciate his dedication to Tennessee Athletics, and the University of Tennessee.”

What are the terms of Phillip Fulmer's contract after the extension?

Fulmer’s annual combined base and supplemental salary remains $900,000. His annual retention bonus increased to $150,000 from $100,000. Fulmer is eligible for that annual retention bonus if he remains Tennessee’s AD on Dec. 31 each year throughout his contract.

Fulmer also is now eligible for an additional performance bonus of up to $100,000 annually, as determined by Plowman. For Fulmer to be eligible for this bonus, Tennessee's athletic department must operate at a surplus for the fiscal year, ending on June 30, following the contract year on which the bonus is based. With this new performance bonus, Fulmer is now eligible for up to $400,000 annually in performance bonuses.

The contract extension increased Fulmer’s buyout. If UT fired Fulmer, it would owe him 50% of the salary remaining on his deal. That would put Fulmer's buyout at $1.35 million on Jan. 1.

Fulmer, 70, is steering an athletic department through a financial challenge. The athletic department has projected a $40 million loss in revenue because of the pandemic.

Tennessee has avoided layoffs within the athletic department, but in October it announced pay cuts for employees earning more than $50,000 annually. Those cuts took effect Nov. 1 and will run through June 30.

Fulmer agreed to a 15% salary reduction, which applies to his base and supplemental salary, during that time period. He also will forgo any performance bonuses he otherwise would be eligible for through June 30. He remains eligible for his retention bonus.

Fulmer was among 18 contract employees within the athletic department to agree to a pay cut for the final eight months of this fiscal year. Additionally, 155 at-will employees within the athletic department were affected by pay cuts. Eight Tennessee football staff members were the only athletics employees who were asked to accept a pay cut and declined.

By percentage, Fulmer is taking the biggest pay cut within the athletic department.

Fulmer became Tennessee’s athletics director on Dec. 1, 2017, when then-Chancellor Beverly Davenport fired John Currie and appointed Fulmer, all in the same day.

Davenport was fired in May 2018. Plowman became chancellor on June 1, 2019.

“I have really enjoyed working alongside Chancellor Plowman and appreciate her leadership,” Fulmer said in a statement to Knox News. “I love the University of Tennessee, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue serving my alma mater in this role. The pandemic has certainly presented challenges we never could have anticipated, but our entire university has met those challenges head-on. We’re going to get through all of this together.”

How Tennessee athletics has unfolded under Phillip Fulmer

Fulmer had been passed over for the job in favor of Currie, whose tenure lasted eight months and ended before he could complete a chaotic coaching search that cost him his job. 

Fulmer hired Jeremy Pruitt as Tennessee's football coach less than a week into his tenure. Fulmer vowed that righting Tennessee’s slumbering football program would become his top priority.

The Vols are 2-4 this season, and Pruitt’s record of 15-16 matches that of his predecessor, Butch Jones, through 31 games.

Tennessee will take a four-game losing streak into its game against No. 21 Auburn (4-2) on Saturday. With a loss, Tennessee would match its longest losing streak since starting the 1988 season 0-6.

Fulmer and Plowman approved a two-year contract extension for Pruitt in September that will increase Pruitt's salary in 2021 and ratcheted up his buyout.

Although Fulmer hasn’t solved the Vols’ football woes, Tennessee placed 25th in the Directors' Cup standings in 2019, its best finish since 2011. The Directors’ Cup factors in performance across all sports. The Directors’ Cup was nixed in 2020 after winter and spring sports seasons did not finish because of the pandemic.

Fulmer’s other major move as athletics director came in 2019 when he fired women’s basketball coach Holly Warlick and replaced her with Kellie Harper, who played for the Lady Vols under Pat Summitt.

The Lady Vols finished 19-13 in Warlick's final season and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee went 21-10 in Harper’s first season, which was cut short by the pandemic before the NCAA Tournament field was announced.

In 2018, Fulmer hired volleyball coach Eve Rackham and men’s golf coach Brennan Webb, and he signed men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes to a contract extension. Barnes nearly left UT for UCLA in April 2019, with Barnes admitting that he would have become the Bruins’ coach if not for a hurdle with his buyout. By staying at UT, Barnes received a sweetened deal that made him one of college basketball’s top-paid coaches.

Fulmer signed baseball coach Tony Vitello to an extension in 2019 after the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005.

Fulmer inherited a Neyland Stadium renovation project that the UT Board of Trustees approved in November 2017. The project called for a renovation of the stadium’s south end zone to be completed by the start of the 2021 season.

After his hire, Fulmer paused the project to evaluate its design and scope.

Last November, Tennessee unveiled revamped plans, while staying within the project’s $180 million budget. The reconfigured plans extended the project timeline, calling for it to be carried out in phases through 2023.

Stadium improvements so far include a new LED ribbon board unveiled in 2019 and an upgraded sound system installed before this season, with more sweeping stadium renovations on tap. Tennessee also announced plans to improve the Anderson Training Center in a separate project.

Fulmer, the former Tennessee football coach, led the Vols to a national title during the 1998 season. A Tennessee native, he also played for the Vols.

Blake Toppmeyer covers University of Tennessee football. Email him at blake.toppmeyer@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. If you enjoy Blake’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. Current subscribers can click here to join Blake's subscriber-only text group offering updates and analysis on Vols football.