HOOVER, Ala. - Time caught up with Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer on Thursday outside the Wynfrey Hotel.

After exiting a vehicle outside the site of SEC Media Days, Fulmer was reportedly served a subpoena to give a deposition in the lawsuit of Wendell Smith, a former Alabama booster who is suing the NCAA in a defamation case.

Fulmer, who addressed the media later Thursday afternoon, denied seeing the subpoena.

" I have not seen that, " Fulmer said. " I have not seen a subpoena. As I said to all the other groups, this is not the place for that kind of thing. There are great fans that have great passion about the Southeastern Conference that are not interested in that kind of B. S. "

Fulmer then added, " I would have some other choice words if there weren't so many cameras in here. "

When asked for clarification later by a reporter, Fulmer replied, " If you have a question about a schedule or a team or anything, I'd be glad to talk to you. Otherwise, I'm not talking about it any further. "

At the urging of his legal counsel, Fulmer skipped out of SEC Media Days in 2004 to dodge a subpoena to testify in an NCAA investigation of Alabama. Fulmer participated in the Media Days event via teleconference four years ago, but the SEC fined the Vols coach $ 10, 000 for not appearing at the event in person.

The Mobile Press-Register reported Thursday that a process server completed the delivery of the subpoena outside the hotel.

Smith was accused by the NCAA of providing payments to a high school player. He denied the allegations and has questioned Fulmer's role as a source in the NCAA investigation.

The Press-Register reached Chris Linton, an attorney representing Smith, on Thursday.

" We're trying to find out what Phillip Fulmer knows, " said Chris Linton in the report. " We feel there was so much mud slung in Alabama. Phillip Fulmer was closer to that situation than anybody. We just want to find out what he knows. " Fulmer, according to the Press-Register, is scheduled to give his deposition Sept. 15, two days before the Volunteers play at Auburn. Georgia celebration still

on Gators'minds Wherever he goes, it seems, Georgia head coach Mark Richt is going to have to address the act of celebration. And Thursday the issue came up again at SEC Media Days. Richt may have spent as much time answering questions concerning his team's raucous on-the-field celebration after Georgia's first touchdown against Florida last year as he did about the Bulldogs' legitimate national title hopes this season.

On Oct. 27 last year, after a Knowshon Moreno touchdown run, about 70 Georgia players rushed the field to celebrate with their teammates.

" I was in shock as much as anybody else, " Richt said.

Richt went into more detail about the celebration that drew some criticism, especially from the Florida faithful, last year in the Gators' 43-20 loss.

Looking for a spark from his team, which had disappointed Richt from an emotional standpoint in the weeks prior, the Georgia coach told his players to celebrate " so hard that the referees throw the flag" after the team's first touchdown against Florida.

" Now, I'm thinking in my mind, my little pea brain, 11 guys in the game, [they ] score a touchdown, and 11 guys jump up and down and celebrate until the official throws the flag, " Richt said. " That's my intention of what I had said. "

Richt called Florida coach Urban Meyer the Monday after the game to apologize and express he had no idea his team would go to such extremes.

Meyer addressed the matter in his biography that will be released in September and hinted toward a rebuttal in this year's upcoming game scheduled for Nov. 1. " That wasn't right. It was a bad deal, " says Meyer in the upcoming book. " And it will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team.... So we'll handle it. And it's going to be a big deal. "

Saban downplays recent'mediocrity'A reporter asked Alabama coach Nick Saban about facing the recent mediocrity - and, yes, he did say " mediocrity" - in the last few years in Tuscaloosa and with the Miami Dolphins. Saban reacted with a smile, a small chuckle and, " I'll try to get better, I guess. " Believe it or not, Saban, who once turned around Michigan State and led LSU to a national championship, is 22-23 in his last three seasons as a head coach.

Last season, Saban's first at Alabama, the Crimson Tide went 7-6 but the campaign was very tainted with a 21-14 loss at home to Louisiana-Monroe. In Miami, Saban never managed a winning season in two years at the helm and spurned the Dolphins to return to the college game.

" Eight years ago I started out with not much success either, " Saban said, " but you have to build. And that's what we're trying to do right now - build on positive energy and a great opportunity so that we can have success in the future. "

Eight years ago, Saban took over LSU and led the Tigers to eight wins, then followed that with two BCS bowl appearances, including a national championship, in the next three years.

Building a program to prominence takes time, and Saban has seen that firsthand once before. Saban won six games in three of his first four years at Michigan State before a 9-2 season in 1999 got him noticed nationally.

Still, expectations at Alabama are lofty for Saban's fans.

" You guys use that word'expectation' a lot, " Saban said to the media contingent Thursday. " And I try to minimize it a lot because I think it's dangerous. " Saban refused to set a timetable for getting the Crimson Tide back to collegiate dominance. " It is what it is, " Saban said. " We are where we are. We work every day to try to get it where we want it to be. We're going to make small incremental improvements to get there. "

Petrino set for Media Days debut Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino will make his SEC Media Days debut today at 10: 40 a.m.

Petrino's 40-minute press conference is scheduled to air on ESPNU, which can viewed on Cox channel 120 for Northwest Arkansas subscribers. UA center Jonathan Luigs and safety Elston Forte will represent the UA in subsequent question and answer sessions in the morning.

The UA's official athletic Web site, www.arkansasrazorbacks.com, will provide a link to a free video stream of Arkansas' media day appearances as well.