KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The University of Tennessee on Sunday night named Phillip Fulmer to succeed Johnny Majors as head football coach, effective Jan. 2.
Majors will coach the team if the Volunteers play in a bowl game and Fulmer will remain as the offensive coordinator and assistant coach for that contest.
The 18th-ranked Volunteers are expected to receive a bid to the Hall of Fame Bowl on New Year's Day.
Majors is in his 16th season at the Volunteers' helm. Fulmer, 42, led the Volunteers to a 3-0 record while Majors was recovering from heart surgery earlier this season.
Majors recently announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season, when the university decided to buy out the final two years of his contract. He coached his final regular season game Saturday, a 29-25 victory over Vanderbilt. Tennessee finished the regular season with an 8-3 record and a 5-3 mark in the Southeastern Conference.
Majors, 57, underwent a 3 1/2-hour operation on Aug. 25 after becoming ill while traveling to a college coaches' meeting in Texas. Majors won his first two games back after surgery but lost to Arkansas, Alabama and South Carolina as Tennessee dropped in the rankings.
Majors compiled a 116-62-8 mark at Tennessee. He coached at Iowa State and Pittsburgh before coming to Tennessee. Majors guided Pittsburgh to the national championship in 1976 and has a career 168- 105-10 record.
Fulmer began his coaching career in 1972 as a graduate assistant at Tennessee after playing as an offensive lineman at the school. Fulmer served as an assistant at Wichita State and Vanderbilt before returning to Tennessee in 1980. He has been the Vols' offensive coordinator for the last four years.
