The Case for Keeping Pruitt

[vol1981]

Lot longer than I thought it would be. I figured it would be some $$ signs because that's the only reason he shouldn't be gone.

You're better than I am. I was expecting a big blank area.

 

[GVol1966]

I'm as angry as everyone else at this years' performance. I'm not sure Pruitt is "the guy" or not, and I've said that since Day #1, but I also think there's a legit case for why he deserves at least 1-2 more years to figure it out. Here's why:

QB Struggles. I'm not going to mince words: Jarrett Guarantano has been dogs@#$ awful this season. With advanced stats, he's arguably the worst QB in the SEC right now; at the very least, he's in the bottom 3. Vandy's true Freshman QB is arguably better than JG at this point. JG single-handedly lost us that Kentucky game with 3 critical turnovers and in reality, we lost that Auburn game due to JG as well (14 point swing with that pick-6). Even the games JG isn't turning the ball over, he can't move us down the field either. So with a good QB, we're already back to 4-3 against SEC competition. But I'm not even sure we lose to Arkansas with a good QB; we might've even had a shot at Georgia. We're really that close to being a good team.

2018 vs 2020. In 2018, we could've had Peyton Manning behind center and still struggled to hit 6-6 with the terrible O-line play. It's the reverse now. The QB is, by far, the biggest thing holding us back. We are better at almost every other position than QB. The O-line is worlds better. We brought in one of the best WR classes in the country this season; albeit they are young and didn't get the reps in the offseason they needed, but they are going to be good (see Jalin Hyatt!). Our running game is much improved over 2018. The only thing that's worse on offense is the QB.

3-7 vs 7-5. A 3-7 SEC record (our likely result) sucks, but it's also a bit out of context. With our traditional schedule, we're likely 7-5 or 6-6 at the end of the season.

Bailey / Salter. Chaney needs his QB. You might think all of this is hogwash, but to me, this is the biggest point in favor of keeping Pruitt. Chaney hasn't had his QB yet. JG is Butch Jones' QB. Shrout is Helton's QB. Even Maurer was Helton's QB. Kaidon Salter is the first Chaney QB, but Harrison Bailey also probably qualifies as he was recruited at Georgia by Chaney, even if we're not sure if we was their #1 target. I wanna see how Chaney does with Bailey and Salter before throwing in the towel on Pruitt, because right now, I see a reasonably good team with very terrible QB play. If Chaney gets that fixed (and he has a track record of fixing QB play), this might suddenly be a competitive team.

Bailey shows promise. Not much to go on, but Bailey looked very impressive versus Auburn in his one drive. While I'm pissed at Pruitt for not playing Bailey more, I do at least understand the logic. Bailey is a true Freshman who came in during a global pandemic, which basically deprived him of an offseason. Even during the limited offseason, Bailey was quarantined at one point and got very few reps. I don't think Pruitt wants to throw Bailey to the wolves given this and may be playing it very safe as a result (too safe), but I at least understand it. I want to see how Bailey does before jumping to conclusions.

Recruiting has been very good. In spite of the bad, Pruitt brought in one of the best classes in the country last season. He might end up with one of the best this season as well; albeit the lack of progress on the field may be an issue for some recruits. Covid hurt us more than other teams precisely because of this; we were always more dependent upon Freshman talent this year than the rest of the SEC and Covid destroyed our offseason development.

Pruitt has been quick to address problems. I know he has his share of coach-speak (they all do), but Pruitt fired Brumbaugh pretty quickly after seeing problems on the DL. Pruitt has a very Johnny Majors way of handling the staff and I think it may take him more time to get settled than people think.

Like I said, I don't know if Pruitt is "the guy" or not, but at the very least, I want to see another year. I want to see how Chaney does with either Bailey or Salter at QB; see how we do with a full offseason. If Pruitt lets us down at that point, then it's time to look at replacing him, but right now, I see a team that has mostly gotten better, but still sucks because we've been terrible at the most important position on the field. And while Pruitt is partly to blame for some of those issues (including telling Michael Penix to take a hike and taking JT Shrout instead in 2017), we might simply not be seeing the improved results of having Chaney in charge of recruiting QBs yet.

So there it is ... flame away!

But I'll be calling for Pruitt's head just like many of you if I see similar results in 2021. For now, I'm willing to give Pruitt a pass, but if JG is the starter in 2021, I'll probably be screaming "FAHR PRUITT!" with all the other miserables.

Case closed: there’s no case for keeping him.
He sucks as a HC

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

This is the most reasonable thing I’ve read on VN in a while. Some of these other people sound like emotional teenagers that just got cheated on.

 

[DaddyChad]

Just don’t see why we haven’t started focusing on the future. We’ve wasted time in preparing JG instead of preparing Bailey. Just poor coaching and development.

 

[Southeastern VFL]

With Hugh Freeze out there and not much reason to keep Pruitt outside of hanging onto a few prized recruits that would probably flip I say go a head and pull the trigger but with that being said I don't think we a truly doomed if he stays beyond the level of criticism he get which he has justified it I still think there is the possibility with the right decision making which is a huge red flag he can still win at Tennessee.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

I think Salter is a Vol no matter what

He's not if Pruitt and Chaney get fired.

We're starting over from scratch if that happens. And the cycle will repeat.

Of course, let's be honest, 90% of the hoople-heads here would've fired Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban at Mich State, Barry Alvarez, Frank Beamer, etc. I don't know if Pruitt will figure things out or not, but it's so predictable watching people who praised Pruitt for his country charm 3 years ago, now make him out to be a retarded hillbilly. Indeed, I said that very thing would happen back in 2017.

But for me, as pissed as I am, I want to see 2021 with Bailey and / or Salter at QB, before making the final judgement.

 

[jwilliams]

I'm as angry as everyone else at this years' performance. I'm not sure Pruitt is "the guy" or not, and I've said that since Day #1, but I also think there's a legit case for why he deserves at least 1-2 more years to figure it out. Here's why:

QB Struggles. I'm not going to mince words: Jarrett Guarantano has been dogs@#$ awful this season. With advanced stats, he's arguably the worst QB in the SEC right now; at the very least, he's in the bottom 3. Vandy's true Freshman QB is arguably better than JG at this point. JG single-handedly lost us that Kentucky game with 3 critical turnovers and in reality, we lost that Auburn game due to JG as well (14 point swing with that pick-6). Even the games JG isn't turning the ball over, he can't move us down the field either. So with a good QB, we're already back to 4-3 against SEC competition. But I'm not even sure we lose to Arkansas with a good QB; we might've even had a shot at Georgia. We're really that close to being a good team.

2018 vs 2020. In 2018, we could've had Peyton Manning behind center and still struggled to hit 6-6 with the terrible O-line play. It's the reverse now. The QB is, by far, the biggest thing holding us back. We are better at almost every other position than QB. The O-line is worlds better. We brought in one of the best WR classes in the country this season; albeit they are young and didn't get the reps in the offseason they needed, but they are going to be good (see Jalin Hyatt!). Our running game is much improved over 2018. The only thing that's worse on offense is the QB.

3-7 vs 7-5. A 3-7 SEC record (our likely result) sucks, but it's also a bit out of context. With our traditional schedule, we're likely 7-5 or 6-6 at the end of the season.

Bailey / Salter. Chaney needs his QB. You might think all of this is hogwash, but to me, this is the biggest point in favor of keeping Pruitt. Chaney hasn't had his QB yet. JG is Butch Jones' QB. Shrout is Helton's QB. Even Maurer was Helton's QB. Kaidon Salter is the first Chaney QB, but Harrison Bailey also probably qualifies as he was recruited at Georgia by Chaney, even if we're not sure if we was their #1 target. I wanna see how Chaney does with Bailey and Salter before throwing in the towel on Pruitt, because right now, I see a reasonably good team with very terrible QB play. If Chaney gets that fixed (and he has a track record of fixing QB play), this might suddenly be a competitive team.

Bailey shows promise. Not much to go on, but Bailey looked very impressive versus Auburn in his one drive. While I'm pissed at Pruitt for not playing Bailey more, I do at least understand the logic. Bailey is a true Freshman who came in during a global pandemic, which basically deprived him of an offseason. Even during the limited offseason, Bailey was quarantined at one point and got very few reps. I don't think Pruitt wants to throw Bailey to the wolves given this and may be playing it very safe as a result (too safe), but I at least understand it. I want to see how Bailey does before jumping to conclusions.

Recruiting has been very good. In spite of the bad, Pruitt brought in one of the best classes in the country last season. He might end up with one of the best this season as well; albeit the lack of progress on the field may be an issue for some recruits. Covid hurt us more than other teams precisely because of this; we were always more dependent upon Freshman talent this year than the rest of the SEC and Covid destroyed our offseason development.

Pruitt has been quick to address problems. I know he has his share of coach-speak (they all do), but Pruitt fired Brumbaugh pretty quickly after seeing problems on the DL. Pruitt has a very Johnny Majors way of handling the staff and I think it may take him more time to get settled than people think.

Like I said, I don't know if Pruitt is "the guy" or not, but at the very least, I want to see another year. I want to see how Chaney does with either Bailey or Salter at QB; see how we do with a full offseason. If Pruitt lets us down at that point, then it's time to look at replacing him, but right now, I see a team that has mostly gotten better, but still sucks because we've been terrible at the most important position on the field. And while Pruitt is partly to blame for some of those issues (including telling Michael Penix to take a hike and taking JT Shrout instead in 2017), we might simply not be seeing the improved results of having Chaney in charge of recruiting QBs yet.

So there it is ... flame away!

But I'll be calling for Pruitt's head just like many of you if I see similar results in 2021. For now, I'm willing to give Pruitt a pass, but if JG is the starter in 2021, I'll probably be screaming "FAHR PRUITT!" with all the other miserables.

I know you're going to get a lot of crap over this thread, so I wanted to say "nice post." I thought all your points were reasonable and/or prudent.

 

[CA_Vol]

While I share your opinion about how our garbage QB has ruined this season, the idea that Pruitt is recruiting at a high level is laughable. This next recruiting class is full of three star players and we just lost a very important four star CB commit last week.

Even if we finish in the Top 15, that typically equates to being barely inside the Top 10 in the SEC. Meanwhile, UGA, Bama, and UF will continue to load up while we try to catch up in year four with less talent. Has Pruitt shown any indication that he is capable of scheming around our deficiencies and winning games that we shouldn’t? No, actually the exact opposite. He has routinely managed to lose games we shouldn’t.

Another downside to keeping Pruitt is with a full schedule next year, we likely win between six and eight games. That will look like improvement, but it will be a mirage. Especially if we continue to get beat by 25 points to UGA, Bama, and UF.

If we have a real shot at Freeze, we should take it. He’s a proven head coach who knows how to scheme around talent gaps and could stabilize the program. We won’t do it, but we should. Instead, I think we will get the next year of Pruitt, as you want. And I suspect we will see much similar results.

 

[DaddyChad]

If we just don’t have the money, honestly would be happier with someone on staff getting a shot at head coach. Pruitt has proven his incompetence.

 

[vol1981]

Ok, today I have had a complete change of heart on Pruitt. I guess I have not ever heard Pruitt’s press conferences before. One reporter asked him that with this additional practice time has he been able to enhance Bailey’s knowledge of the play book to get him ready. His response was that HB has always studied hard and dedicated himself to being prepared. But we just have not been able to find opportunities for him to get onto the field.

This is the coach that Fulmer and the administration think should be our head football coach. I have decided that I hope the Gump stays there for at least two more years just to show the rest of the football world just how smart our AD and administration are. And it is not like the rest of his statements were Einsteinesque. He is dumber than a truck load of rocks.

fyp

 

[jwilliams]

While I share your opinion about how our garbage QB has ruined this season, the idea that Pruitt is recruiting at a high level is laughable. This next recruiting class is full of three star players and we just lost a very important four star CB commit last week.

Even if we finish in the Top 15, that typically equates to being barely inside the Top 10 in the SEC. Meanwhile, UGA, Bama, and UF will continue to load up while we try to catch up in year four with less talent. Has Pruitt shown any indication that he is capable of scheming around our deficiencies and winning games that we shouldn’t? No, actually the exact opposite. He has routinely managed to lose games we shouldn’t.

Another downside to keeping Pruitt is with a full schedule next year, we likely win between six and eight games. That will look like improvement, but it will be a mirage. Especially if we continue to get beat by 25 points to UGA, Bama, and UF.

If we have a real shot at Freeze, we should take it. He’s a proven head coach who knows how to scheme around talent gaps and could stabilize the program. We won’t do it, but we should. Instead, I think we will get the next year of Pruitt, as you want. And I suspect we will see much similar results.

Our recruiting, since Pruitt arrived, has been on par with Florida, who is about to win the east, so I'd say it's pretty decent.

 

[CA_Vol]

Our recruiting, since Pruitt arrived, has been on par with Florida, who is about to win the east, so I'd say it's pretty decent.

Oh, cool. Please show your work. Where is this talent similarity on the field?

 

[The Tall Gguy]

This is the most reasonable thing I’ve read on VN in a while. Some of these other people sound like emotional teenagers that just got cheated on.

I think Dooley + Butch + Pruitt (so far) = fanbase good at knowing when a coach is in over his head

 

[DaddyChad]

He's not if Pruitt and Chaney get fired.

We're starting over from scratch if that happens. And the cycle will repeat.

Of course, let's be honest, 90% of the hoople-heads here would've fired Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban at Mich State, Barry Alvarez, Frank Beamer, etc. I don't know if Pruitt will figure things out or not, but it's so predictable watching people who praised Pruitt for his country charm 3 years ago, now make him out to be a retarded hillbilly. Indeed, I said that very thing would happen back in 2017.

But for me, as pissed as I am, I want to see 2021 with Bailey and / or Salter at QB, before making the final judgement.

My question is why is Bailey not out there? It’s not like he gives us less of a chance than JG. If Pruitt just came out and said we’re going to develop for the future at the qb position, fans would be much more understanding. People hate to see him trot JG out there and handle him like he’s fine China after he serves another heaping helping of steaming crap up on the field. I’ve never seen a more mentally fragile qb and a coach that is unwilling to move on from him.

 

[jwilliams]

Oh, cool. Please show your work. Where is this talent similarity on the field?

Oh, it's not even close. You mentioned "3 stars" so I was just going off 247 rankings.

 

[DaddyChad]

Steve Spurrier would have pulled JG the first game. Even if he had to start a janitor he would’ve found a better starter on campus than JG.

 

[The Tall Gguy]

He's not if Pruitt and Chaney get fired.

We're starting over from scratch if that happens. And the cycle will repeat.

Of course, let's be honest, 90% of the hoople-heads here would've fired Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban at Mich State, Barry Alvarez, Frank Beamer, etc. I don't know if Pruitt will figure things out or not, but it's so predictable watching people who praised Pruitt for his country charm 3 years ago, now make him out to be a retarded hillbilly. Indeed, I said that very thing would happen back in 2017.

But for me, as pissed as I am, I want to see 2021 with Bailey and / or Salter at QB, before making the final judgement.

Strawman argument and extreme hyperbole. The coaches you mentioned would have had success here by now. They were successful at other places. Face it, Pruitt is finished...if not this season, next.

 

[R481967]

This is the most reasonable thing I’ve read on VN in a while. Some of these other people sound like emotional teenagers that just got cheated on.

We're not being cheated on?

 

[BeecherVol]

Lot longer than I thought it would be. I figured it would be some $$ signs because that's the only reason he shouldn't be gone.

That and we have absolutely no reason to believe we have identified the reason why we have hired 4 coaches in 12 years only to be where we were 12 years ago.

Does anybody really think they know where to go next?
And if by some miracle they did (which I believe isnt just one guy) could the whole bunch which is more than just the AD, President, and Chancellor, get on the same page and pull it off?

If the last search told us anything, a lot of those people that matter are pulling a bunch of different directions.

 

[The Tall Gguy]

That and we have absolutely no reason to believe we have identified the reason why we have hired 4 coaches in 12 years only to be where we were 12 years ago.

Does anybody really think they know where to go next?
And if by some miracle they did (which I believe isnt just one guy) could the whole bunch which is more than just the AD, President, and Chancellor, get on the same page and pull it off?

If the last search told us anything, a lot of those people that matter are pulling a bunch of different directions.

So we should sit back and accept sucking from now own because coaching searches are too hard?

 

[OrngeJuiceJones]

He's not if Pruitt and Chaney get fired.

We're starting over from scratch if that happens. And the cycle will repeat.

Of course, let's be honest, 90% of the hoople-heads here would've fired Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban at Mich State, Barry Alvarez, Frank Beamer, etc. I don't know if Pruitt will figure things out or not, but it's so predictable watching people who praised Pruitt for his country charm 3 years ago, now make him out to be a retarded hillbilly. Indeed, I said that very thing would happen back in 2017.

But for me, as pissed as I am, I want to see 2021 with Bailey and / or Salter at QB, before making the final judgement.

But Theres a lot more issues than just QB. And
Salter has confirmed lately hes all Vol.

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

We're not being cheated on?

I mean why pay someone $17 million for doing nothing?

 

[jwilliams]

There’s another aspect that nobody ever talks about. They’re about to approve the one time transfer rule... Personally, I’d want stability in the program when that happens.

 

[BeardedVol]

Our recruiting, since Pruitt arrived, has been on par with Florida, who is about to win the east, so I'd say it's pretty decent.

2018

2019

2020

2021

We pad our classes with more 3* players, while Mullen is steadily bringing in more 4* players, and the gap will only widen in 2021 when the dust settles.

The problem is that Mullen and his staff have proven to be much better at developing players, and even our 4 and 5* players don't seen to be playing up to their recruitment potential under Pruitt.

 

[DaddyChad]

Just like to state despite my disdain for Pruitt and his incompetence, I understand the OP is trying to be fair. I do think it’s definitely more challenging as an inexperienced head coach with Covid going on. I don’t think that’s an excuse but it definitely was a factor. Didn’t seem to effect Pittman but whatever.