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In this file photo of April 22, 2017, Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, White's team coach, yells at his team during the annual soccer game American A-Day from Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo: Associated Press)
Let's start our badysis of Tennessee's election of Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt as head football coach is reportedly coming to an end with the four words that Each person who weighs on each coach should say.
I have no idea.
Not me. You, not Phillip Fulmer, no. Pruitt does not either. We can all have our feelings and cite statistics, talk to people who know Pruitt and make projections, and I'm sure Pruitt would work tirelessly as the 24th Vols full-time head coach, in his first job as head coach.
But both relate to the success or failure of a coach position, including relationships, coach's staff and luck. Maybe Tennessee is a disaster at the administrative level and reinforcement for a reincarnation of Vince Lombardi at this point to return the Vols to past glory. Maybe Tennessee just needs the right coach to put everything in order, overcome all the recent embarrbadment and restore victory.
Here are three things we can say: the fact that Fulmer, in his first week as sports director, chose a coordinator without experience in main coaching among other candidates with similar profiles is more evidence of the damage caused to the Tennessee brand . There are many things that I like about the work that Pruitt, 43, has done to win this opportunity. And this has to be the chosen one.
After Fulmer's firing in 2008 as head coach – 10 years after he won a national title – and Lane Kiffin's bizarre one-year stay, and the terrible choice of hiring Derek Dooley, and a Butch Jones the tenure that repaired part of that damage, but ended with a team of 2017 that was the first in the history of the school to lose eight games and all of its SEC games … well, how many more setbacks can the Vols endure?
It is true that the resources, facilities and tradition available are those of a championship program. It is true that Alabama, Oklahoma, USC, Michigan and other major brands in this sport have suffered a decade or so of similar failure in modern times, only to recover with the right coach hire.
That does not guarantee anything, and there are no more high school players in this country who can remember that the Vols are great. Another failed rental and those days of glory can be news images. Even with all that UT has in its favor, this work is no better than the sixth in the SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and LSU have similar or better advantages and better access to talent.
Texas A & M could be a better job, too, although the leadership there could be more hit than in Tennessee. The point is that this may be Pruitt's first head trainer job, but he has one last chance for UT.
And considering this search, with its rejection of Greg Schiano and the suspension of AD John Currie (it's out, but UT hopes to shoot him with cause) and all the very public failures in the middle, that feeling has been magnified. The vols have been mocked at the national level. The Vols have deserved it.
I have heard that some use the reliable scenario of car accidents to describe this search. You know, it's horrible, but you can not look away. I think it has been more like one of those bloody movies that show on the driver's disk, full of car accidents. And students are forced to see it all day, every day, for two weeks.
Rub your eyes. Finally it is ending. So although the objectives of the Currie / Fulmer change search included established head coaches such as Dan Mullen, Mike Gundy, Mike Leach and Jeff Brohm (and yes, the wildly unpopular Schiano), I think Vols fans can embrace this conclusion. 19659016] Alabama has shown a propensity to blitzing additional players "width =" 540 "height =" 405 "data-mycapture-src =" https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2017/12/06/TennGroup /Knoxville/636481418307980196-MGMBrd-10-14-2016-Advertiser-1-C001-2016-10-13-IMG-1014pruitt-1-1-O7G1VTGO-L900363512-IMG-1014pruitt-1-1-O7G1VTGO.jpg "data -mycapture-sm-src = "https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/b9968a625ac27b854c8f71bd4d8e755d677a3221/r=500×365/local/-/media/2017/12/06/TennGroup/Knoxville/636481418307980196-MGMBrd- 10-14-2016-Advertiser-1-C001-2016-10-13-IMG-1014pruitt-1-1-O7G1VTGO-L900363512-IMG-1014pruitt-1-1-O7G1VTGO.jpg "/>
Alabama has shown A propensity to blitzing additional players under defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.
April 16, 2016. (Photo: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports)
Pruitt, defensive defender of the Middle Tennessee State in the 1990s before moving to Alabama and finishing his career there, won a national championship as defensive coordinator for the state of Florida in 2013 He has three previous rings, such as Bama's player development director in 2009 and defensive backs coach in 2011 and 2012.
Coordinated Mark Richt's defenses in Georgia in 2014-15 , then Nick Saban took Pruitt back to Alabama to replace Kirby Smart after Smart replaced Richt.
Interestingly, Smart decided not to keep Pruitt as defensive coordinator with the Bulldogs, although Pruitt said publicly that he wanted to stay. But Saban called Pruitt's rent "obvious" as a coordinator and told reporters: "There was no question who I was going to hire, I did not interview anyone, I did not talk to anyone, I just hired the man."
Obviously, Vols fans would love to think that Pruitt can approximate Smart's success as a head coach in Georgia at some point. Many of them would probably prefer to see a successful man shown as a head coach, but novice trainers in major programs can excel.
Just ask Georgia. Ask Clemson, who is looking for his second consecutive national title under Dabo Swinney, who was a receiver-wide receiver before taking office in 2008. Just ask Oklahoma, which chose Florida defensive coordinator, Bob Stoops, 38, and his lack of experience as head coach to change things in 1999 – then he replaced him this season with offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, all 33 years old and without time as head coach.
These are three of the four programs in the American Football Playoff this season. Pruitt is in charge of the defense of the room.
Pruitt has a reputation as an ace recruiter, Derrick Henry and Jalen Ramsey are among his credited victories, and we'll see if he can translate those skills from Tuscaloosa to Knoxville. Is he a better choice than the offensive coordinator of USC and former quarterback Vols Tee Martin, or defensive coordinator of Georgia Mel Tucker, or defensive coordinator of Clemson Brent Venables?
I have no idea. But the next few years of discovery will surpbad seeing car wrecks.
Contact Joe Rexrode at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode .