On Rocky Top : A Front-Row Seat to the End of an Era

When Clay Travis decided to spend the 2008 season up close and personal with the University of Tennessee Volunteers, he thought he was in for a rollicking ride with a leading contender for the national title. But by December, the team had suffered its second-worst season ever, and its head coach of more than thirty years, Phil Fulmer, the most beloved and recognized man in Tennessee, had been fired. In "On Rocky Top," Travis, a lifelong Volunteer fan, reports on the season from the sideline and inside the locker room, creating a fascinating and loving chronicle of an impassioned state, a celebrated football culture, a beloved coach, and the sensational collapse of a once-mighty juggernaut.