Phillip Fulmer Sr. is a former football player, coach, and athletic director at the University of Tennessee. Fulmer enrolled at the University of Tennessee as a student in 1968. He promptly joined the football team as an offensive guard. While playing for the Volunteers, Fulmer garnered All-Southeastern Conference honors at offensive guard.

He served as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1992 to 2008, compiling a 152–52 record. He is best known for coaching the Volunteers in the first BCS National Championship Game in 1998, defeating the Florida State Seminoles. Fulmer was the Volunteers' 20th head football coach. At the end of his tenure at Tennessee, Fulmer had the second-highest number of wins of any head coach in Tennessee history, 21 behind Robert Neyland. Fulmer also was the third coach in Tennessee history to win a claimed national championship. His 1997 and 1998 teams won consecutive SEC championships.He is considered to be a Tennessee football icon, noted for his loyalty to the institution.

In recognition of his accomplishments at Tennessee, Fulmer was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012. Fulmer served as a special assistant to the athletic director at East Tennessee State University. In 2017, Fulmer became the Athletic Director at the University of Tennessee.