Jul 24, 2008 12:44 pm US/Eastern
Report: Tenn. Coach Phillip Fulmer Served Subpoena
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CBS4.com) ―
University of Tennessee head football coach Phillip Fulmer denied reports from an Alabama newspaper that he had been served with a subpoena to testify in an Alabama court case.
The coach was in Birmingham, Alabama for the SEC Media Days when the subpoena was allegedly served. The Tuscaloosa News said Fulmer received the document inside the hotel that hosted the event. Fulmer denied receiving anything.
"I don't know anything about a subpoena," the Associated Press reported Fulmer told a group of reporters.
According to the Mobile Post-Register, the subpoena informed Fulmer to appear at the law offices of Blankenship, Harrelson & Wollitz on September 26.
That would be only 2 days before the University of Tennessee is scheduled to play Auburn University, another school in the state of Alabama.
Attorneys involved in the case of Alabama booster Wendell Smith's lawsuit against the NCAA have been trying to get Fulmer on the record. Smith was labeled as a "rogue booster" by the NCAA when they put the University of Alabama on probation in 2001 after allegations of multiple boosters paying players, some as much as $250,000.
Smith has admitted giving Kenny Smith, a one-time Alabama signee who later transferred to Tennessee, $20,000 in the mid-1990s and arranging financing for three automobiles for the player's family. But he maintains that it had nothing to do with Alabama.
The university cut all ties with Wendell Smith after he was named in the infractions report from the NCAA.
Many Alabama fans believe Fulmer turned the school in to the NCAA, which has generated a lot of tensions between fans of Alabama and the Tennessee coach.
The Jefferson County clerk confirmed to the AP that a subpoena was issued on Wednesday, but couldn't say if the subpoena had been given to Fulmer.
This isn't the first time Fulmer has tried to avoid legal issues in the state of Alabama. In 2004, Fulmer avoided going to the state of Alabama to avoid having to testify in another case brought by different boosters of the University of Alabama.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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