Phillip Fulmer to Minnesota?

Phillip Fulmer has made no secret of the fact that he is interested in getting back into coaching. He wasn't ready to leave Tennessee when Mike Hamilton pushed him out the door, that's for sure. Plus at age 60, he's five years younger than Steve Spurrier and only a year older than Nick Saban. He could have plenty of coaching years left.

He's also said he wants to go to a program with history. With that in mind, it kind of makes sense when you see this:

...and Fulmer is quoted as saying this:

"Minnesota has great potential, and with its new facilities it's a place you could recruit to," Fulmer told the News Sentinel on Tuesday night. "I believe it's a place where you can compete."

It's true that Minnesota has history. However, history is about all that program has. Consider the following.

• Minnesota can claim up to six national titles, but none more recent than 1960.
• Minnesota has 18 Big Ten championships, but none more recent than 1967.
• Glen Mason is the only Minnesota coach a winning record (.535) in the era after Murray Warmath, the coach who brought home the most recent Big Ten and national titles.
• Minnesota has won ten games only once (2003) in college football's modern (post WWII) era.
• Minnesota is 3-36 against Ohio State since 1960.
• Minnesota is 9-38 against Michigan since 1960, including a loss to Rich Rodriguez's 3-9 team in 2008.

Perhaps Fulmer is the right guy to get Minnesota going. His commitment to running the ball on first and second down is vintage Big Ten stuff. Plus, Fulmer is already used to recruiting out of a relatively talent barren state. But if he does end up in the Twin Cities, the history that's there is something he'll have to overcome.

The program has taken on SEC cast-offs before, as Tubby Smith is currently the head basketball coach there. The Daily Gopher is considering Florida's D-line coach and former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney, while a commenter there is hoping for Dan Mullen.