The difference in mentality between Jeremy Pruitt and Butch Jones

[sjt18]

The biggest difference is Butch was a used car salesman and Pruitt is a coach. It's so nice to have a HC that doesn't speak like a politician.

FYP

 

[sjt18]

Idk, don’t kill me for saying this but I don’t think Hurd makes it under Pruitt. I think they’d knock heads faster than CBJ did

Hurd would have been a Heisman candidate under Pruitt. I have always believed Jones' mismanagement of Hurd was criminal. The guy could have gone anywhere and was probably more responsible than Jones in bringing in that great class. He wanted to be coached hard. He wanted to be made better. Jones failed on every count.

Plus... Pruitt establishes early that no one is bigger than the team and you earn what you get. That would have meant a world of difference to Hurd.

 

[stevenrich2003]

I would like to see Dwayne Hendrix and Jalen Hurd under this coaching staff, as opposed to cBJ.

Honestly, I really even hate to bring his name back up on this forum but dang...... Hurd in the I formation running down hill, with Kamara running scat....... Lawd have mercy.... Hurd would be killing people...Kamara would have people guessing second guessing who their momma was..... Almost good times... almost....

hopefully this issue has changed FOREVER!

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Remember how Butch reacted after the Hail Mary at UGA? Now could you imagine Pruitt reacting that way? There is no way in the world that I could see him doing whatever that was...

 

[99bubble]

Pruitt doesent quit. Whether we all agree or not Tennessee needed the team of Fulmer and Pruitt and thankfully we got both at the right time

Agree 100 percent. Crazy thing is, we have Beverly Davenport to thank for this! Unbelievable it took her being in that role, at that very moment, to make it happen! Just glad it went down the way it did.

 

[Dudleys87]

Agree 100 percent. Crazy thing is, we have Beverly Davenport to thank for this! Unbelievable it took her being in that role, at that very moment, to make it happen! Just glad it went down the way it did.

I’ve posted this same thing in another thread and was ripped for it. Davenport imo fell on the sword for Tennessee stopping the fat cats from another bad hire for this she was fired.

 

[kbear01]

As easy as it would be, to be satisfied, after a 8-5 campaign, anywhere else, Jeremy Pruitt realized the day he took the job, that 8-5 is not going to cut it, year-in, year-out. He came here, with a goal of getting UT back to the top of the mountain, back into the NC conversation, on a more basis, and at the very least, relevant, in the SEC, once again. Relevant meaning, we beat the teams we should beat, and split with those equal, and pull a shocker vs a LSU, Bama, UGA or Florida.
Well, we lost to GSU and BYU, so we haven't made it to relevant yet. Maybe this season, or 21'. Although, I am encouraged by the way we finished, and a 5-3 conference record.
If UT had taken care of business, last season, and finished 10-3, they would've likely been a top 10 team, with the strength of schedule.

 

[Boca Vol]

Rocky Top....clap, clap, clap!

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

Tee Martin said Hurd was soft. Of course I was one of those who torched Tee about it at the time, turns out he was correct.

Hurd wasn't the problem, jones was.

Hurd pounded the ball for 3 years straight until his body had enough and he had the concussions (lower body extremity injury I believe CBJ reported).

With better S&C and less predictable play calling, he would have been even more incredible in the backfield and better yet as a TE.

 

[Kingofkodak]

Jones followed Brian Kelly at Central Michigan and then again at Cincinnati if I am not mistaken. He had success at each school but did he achieve this with his recruits or Kelly’s recruits? Just looking at the years it seems he had a bunch of holdovers from Kelly’s success.
When Jones got to UT Kiffin’s recruits were pretty much gone. Dooley’s tenure left very little to work with and Jones could not lean on a REAL SEC ready roster. Jones could recruit but player development was lacking. In my opinion Jones is a fairly decent position coach but not a Head Coach in the toughest Conference in College Football.
Pruitt is in the process of developing into a top tier SEC Coach. He is not flashy nor will he do stupid crap for the Orange and White Game. He knows what it takes to Win from his experience at Bama, Florida State, Georgia and again at Bama. He is building SEC Depth, not a MAC Team. Good Times are ahead and I just hope we can be patient as the Program is once again a team to be reckoned with on the field. JMO.

 

[tennrich1]

For me, I think Jeremy's long time association with winning programs at the top of the food chain both in the SEC and elsewhere makes a humongous difference. One can never REALLY understand the standard and what it takes to achieve that said standard if they haven't lived it daily in a very real practical sense. I'm not here to slam on Butch (I think we have plenty to do that) but he never really had exposure to the STANDARD it takes to be at the top. And obviously Jeremy has and does. While Butch SEEMED to be happy with mediocre success Jeremy isn't. It doesn't feel right to him and the only way he'll be happy again is if his program obtains the "top of the food chain" success again. After all that IS his standard. Has Butch's exposure to that level of success at Bama changed him? Only infamous time will tell.

 

[Thunndarr]

Butch not utilizing Kamara to his full potential. Kamara was, what, offensive rookie of the year? JFC, how do you not utilize him as a weapon when we needed it. Dobbs and co. pulled wins out despite of Butch's incompetence, not because of his great coaching. The hail mary between Dobbs and Jennings at Georgia? That's a 1% max probability play, where the team never should have been in that position if the defense was coached properly the preceding drive. Countless, countless examples of key playmakers turning broken plays into miracles under Butch.
Pruitt hasn't needed to rely on miracles (generally speaking, though though the onside kick was great coaching and execution.) Guarantee under Botch that recovery turns into a 12 men on the field penalty. Also cannot forget Butch's amazing clock management against, for example Florida. Or the lack of going for 2 when we would have been up 14, instead of 13.
Guy couldn't do simple arithmetic, couldn't adjust to game situations on down/distance and clock. Also called an amazing timeout that Florida game so Florida could regroup and convert a fourth down late in the first half, if I'm not mistaken. And 4th and 14? This is all off the top of my head. Butch did not have the mental horsepower to manage anything but a blowout.

 

[GoVols64]

There is a huge mentality difference.....Coach Pruitt is a very knowledgeable, experienced, demanding, hand-nosed coach that has won at the highest level versus Butch who is the exact opposite. To be honest, when talking about football and football coaches, Butch does not belong in the same conversations as Coach Pruitt.

Butch belongs right where he is....getting Saban's coffee.

 

[Volteacher]

If Jones had been coach of this years team and had lost to Georgia state and BYU, they would not have won 8 games for sure AND they might have won 1. More game and the team would have flat given up. Pruitt has instilled grit and determination that I have not seen since the late 90s with a will to win. I matter how far down they are in the game

 

[wmcovol]

Excited about winning 8 games when you had a 10 win schedule?

 

[Pepe]

Tee Martin said Hurd was soft. Of course I was one of those who torched Tee about it at the time, turns out he was correct.

The thing that got me about the anti Tee backlash is that Tee was just showing that he still cared about the Tenn program after he had moved on with his career. Also everyone reacted as if Tee had been doing it for the cameras, when it was clearly just an open mike situation ESPN was just eavesdropping.

 

[CR-vol]

Excited about winning 8 games when you had a 10 win schedule?

This is complete BS. It was fortunate that we got 8 wins at all. Nobody on here thought we would beat Miss State, Mizzou or Vandy. Even Kentucky was considered a probable loss. Nobody is high fiving over an 8 win season like it's the best thing ever. When you consider the start of the season it's pretty amazing how things ended that's what gets people a tad excited. Just to see the team headed up and finally getting some breaks. It was never going to be a 10 win season. Had we showed up and beaten Ga State and BYU there's no guarantee things would have ended the same on the rest of the schedule.

 

[ptcarter]

It sure was rocky around here after GA state , BYU and UF. Many who expressed confidence in Pruitt were slammed. Refreshing to see the comments of this thread. Eaking out wins over Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana was barely good enough for some. But wins have been lacking, so it’s a positive, yet still a hard sell. Then comes this recruiting effort.

For those who said it’s gonna take 3 years or more to get on track, you were spot on. 2020 season is the next step. 9 wins very possible. If that happens, and come February 2021 we should have even a better recruiting haul. Things look bright but some patience is still required.

Now if Pruitt had ended up a used car salesman like Butch, at this juncture we could be too deep in the wilderness to ever recover. I feel like we are fortunate. I also feel like Fulmer’s instincts about Pruitt were accurate and he deserves some credit.

Wonder where we’d be with Schiano? We will never know.

 

[ptcarter]

Remember how Butch reacted after the Hail Mary at UGA? Now could you imagine Pruitt reacting that way? There is no way in the world that I could see him doing whatever that was...

SO RIGHT. That was downright embarrassing. We once had an honest to God battle hardened general and legendary coach here. Wonder what Neyland would have thought if he’d witnessed a Tennessee coach falling to the ground , busting out in tears? And then fetching coffee for a Bama coach after being fired? Would love to hear Neylands take on all that.

 

[wmcovol]

This is complete BS. It was fortunate that we got 8 wins at all. Nobody on here thought we would beat Miss State, Mizzou or Vandy. Even Kentucky was considered a probable loss. Nobody is high fiving over an 8 win season like it's the best thing ever. When you consider the start of the season it's pretty amazing how things ended that's what gets people a tad excited. Just to see the team headed up and finally getting some breaks. It was never going to be a 10 win season. Had we showed up and beaten Ga State and BYU there's no guarantee things would have ended the same on the rest of the schedule.

Didn’t expect to beat a Miss St team starting a Freshman QB? Didn’t expect to beat a Mizzou who lost to Vandy? Who here doesn’t expect to beat Vandy every year? I guess you’ll say everyone here expected to lose to Indy also. Your post is BS.

 

[CR-vol]

Didn’t expect to beat a Miss St team starting a Freshman QB? Didn’t expect to beat a Mizzou who lost to Vandy? Who here doesn’t expect to beat Vandy every year? I guess you’ll say everyone here expected to lose to Indy also. Your post is BS.

Thats exactly right. Practically no-one here on VN expected to beat any of those teams after the disastrous losses to Georgia State and BYU. Go back and look at all the whining. Most people were expecting the worst season ever. There was one poster who after the BYU loss correctly picked every win and loss to come and he was laughed out of the place then after the Indiana game somebody quoted his prediction. No-one expected to beat Vandy or Mizzou who had win streaks against us and everyone thought Ms State was the better team on paper.

 

[De La Cloobs]

Stole my thoughts, DD. Strength & conditioning now is truly a strength, & it's obvious.

Strength and Conditioning is night and day different under Pruitt. We have far less injuries across the board and I actually saw a physical progression as the season went on. Mentality and culture instilled in players also aided that physical desire to dominate the other team. This is a good sign.

 

[I40flyer]

Boy butch spent most of his time convincing the weak minded that he was great-deserved a raise, and contract extension. There are none so blind as those that will not (did not) see. CJP spends most of his time concentrating on UT FOOTBALL-he has had some BIG problems-last season games one and two, but he never stopped doing the job he was hired to do-he now has us on a roll. Boy butch never really dedicated himself to UT Football, and when he (the team) had problems he was fast to blame everyone (including team members) but himself. His [butch] champion of life type crap appealed to a number of idiots, but thankfully most of them finally gave up on this scourge (there are still a few that can't get over their man crush). CJP doesn't have time for champions of life type crap-as he spends all his time concentrating on the program. I guess the difference between the two is night and day. One was a con artist, the other a football coach.

 

[901 Orange]

The more i sit back and look at our team for next year, the more i am convincing myself that we are going to win 10 games next year. Idk exactly how we're going to do it or if thats even enough to win the SECe. By my count i think we have like 42 upperclassmen that would be in their 3rd year in the system. I think we are actually at a point physically and maturity wise were we can kick back.

 

[wmcovol]

Thats exactly right. Practically no-one here on VN expected to beat any of those teams after the disastrous losses to Georgia State and BYU. Go back and look at all the whining. Most people were expecting the worst season ever. There was one poster who after the BYU loss correctly picked every win and loss to come and he was laughed out of the place then after the Indiana game somebody quoted his prediction. No-one expected to beat Vandy or Mizzou who had win streaks against us and everyone thought Ms State was the better team on paper.

The key words “after the disastrous losses to Ga state & BYU”. What if Pruitt hadn’t **** the bed in those two games? 10 wins were clearly there. This was the best schedule Tennessee has played in the past 10 years yet our coach lost to a middle road Sun Belt team and the weakest major non-conference team Tennessee has played in many years.