Hiring and Firing coaches

#26
#26
VolJarhead said:
We are good at hiring and firing new coaches. We may be the best in the country at the process of hiring and firing. We have a lot of practice. I think hiring a coach for less than 5 years is pretty silly when you hire one with no experience. You have to know that they are going to make mistakes and need to learn from them. I honestly think if Dooley were still here we would be in better shape than we are now. I'm not saying that there aren't coaches that can do better faster. I'm saying you can't hire a coach with no experience and assume that he will have all the answers right off the bat. I'm not excited about Pruitt, but what coaches want to come here knowing they have 3 years before they are fired if the fans aren't happy with what they see? The only ones that would want the job would be coordinators. That is how I see it, but that is just one man's opinion.
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I agree. We all knew Pruitt was a first time HC and that it would take time. The pandemic has not helped. Unless this administration already has a commitment from a home-run hire like Bob Stoops or Urban Meyer; just keep Pruitt in place.
 
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#28
#28
VolJarhead said:
We are good at hiring and firing new coaches. We may be the best in the country at the process of hiring and firing. We have a lot of practice. I think hiring a coach for less than 5 years is pretty silly when you hire one with no experience. You have to know that they are going to make mistakes and need to learn from them. I honestly think if Dooley were still here we would be in better shape than we are now. I'm not saying that there aren't coaches that can do better faster. I'm saying you can't hire a coach with no experience and assume that he will have all the answers right off the bat. I'm not excited about Pruitt, but what coaches want to come here knowing they have 3 years before they are fired if the fans aren't happy with what they see? The only ones that would want the job would be coordinators. That is how I see it, but that is just one man's opinion.
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If you are good at hiring and firing eventually you won't do it often.

That said, your sentiments are "nice" but cannot work to do anything except create what UK has. Nice 2nd tier program. Competes well. Goes to a bowl game here and there. NO THREAT TO EVER WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP. And the possibility of it working is much higher at UK than UT.

You cannot win without talent. Pruitt is about to have two losing seasons out of three. He's squandering talent. At best he finishes this season on a "red hot seat". Recruits can see the results and rival recruiters are more than happy to explain how poor coaching contributed.

It isn't going to happen IMO but if Pruitt were fired after this season then he would leave someone a good, young, talented roster. If he isn't and this is a true reflection of his abilities as a HC then recruits will stop coming. It happened to Jones. Had the AD had the wisdom to fire him for underperforming team talent after year 3 then the successor would have started with a real shot at success. Instead, Jones recruiting dropped off leaving Pruitt with a roster no better and possibly worse than the one Jones inherited.

Any coach you hire that does not show some significant accomplishment by year 3 needs to go. I get the Covid excuse. It has some merit. But hanging on to a bad coach isn't the answer... ever.
 
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#29
#29
JBVolunteer said:
I agree. We all knew Pruitt was a first time HC and that it would take time. The pandemic has not helped. Unless this administration already has a commitment from a home-run hire like Bob Stoops or Urban Meyer; just keep Pruitt in place.
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The ONLY way you do that is if you are OK with losing.

This is a talented football team. Pruitt's strategies on players and his philosophy have failed. I like him and recognize some good things. OTOH, he shows no indication of changing. Even something as obvious as recognizing his mistake at the QB position seems to be beyond him.
 
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#30
#30
Forget championships, is it now too much to ask for a UT coach to show measured improvement in year 3? Covid causing practices to be missed months ago isn’t why the OL, QBs and DBs look like crap at this point in the season. This team needs two years to get back to where it was two years ago. As for HC prospects wondering about how long Pruitt has been given, do you think other coaches think he’s doing a good job?
 
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#32
#32
i believe I have managed my expectations well with Dooley, Jones, and now Pruitt.

My philosophy is pretty simple. It’s “when things stop improving, he’s hit his ceiling.” My only requirement is to see improvement. I honestly wouldn’t care if it took 6-7 years to compete with elite teams if the team looked better every year.

I’ve lost hope with Pruitt because the team is regressing. They’re worse than last year. And that’s with a significant influx of talent.

OP, what do you see that leads you to believe the curve is simply going change and all of the sudden they’re going to start playing better in year four, or year five? Doesn’t consistent improvement seem much more likely to demonstrate capability than a sudden change? You think they’re just going to get good overnight?
 
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#33
#33
JBVolunteer said:
I agree. We all knew Pruitt was a first time HC and that it would take time. The pandemic has not helped. Unless this administration already has a commitment from a home-run hire like Bob Stoops or Urban Meyer; just keep Pruitt in place.
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The problem has been the Cluster****/timing we had in firing coaches.

We fired Fulmer (whether you agree or not) with 3-4 games left to go instead of waiting till the end of the season. The team quit for the Wyoming game, we had no viable candidates and we panicked and hired Kiffin, who was an unknown risky hire, but didnt put in a buyout that would keep him from going to USC or elsewhere.

Kiffin leaves us high and dry in the middle of the night, and again we hurried and panicked and had no clue what to do, so we quickly hired Dooley because the timing was so horrible when maybe we should've waited and assessed candidates better. Dooley was not HC material obviously.

Dooley is fired and we think we have an "up and comer" coach in Butch, but again we probably shouldve broke the bank and went after a truly big name/established coach. Butch was up and down and got fired after his team quit and the JG Curse began.

Then the admin/President/ADs/BOT/Haslam went full stupid with trying to shove the pedo Schiano down our throat because they have no clue of the pulse of the fanbase and that mess happened, which further caused media stir while at the same time several "name" coaches either were using us for raises or didnt want to get into the mess that Tennessee admin had created the past 8 years. So Fulmer settles on Pruitt, who had great experience as a recruiter and DC, but would be learning on the job and another risky hire.

As ive stated before, the only way UT seemingly pulls out of this mess is to pay $10million a year and get a truly elite coach (Meyer, Stoops, Gruden (I know), etc). Anyone else is either a major risk of continuing our issues
 
#34
#34
JBVolunteer said:
I agree. We all knew Pruitt was a first time HC and that it would take time. The pandemic has not helped. Unless this administration already has a commitment from a home-run hire like Bob Stoops or Urban Meyer; just keep Pruitt in place.
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Tennessee is not a "learn as you go" type job, and Pruitt is definitely doing that. My biggest issue with him is playing JG honestly.

I truly believe with a different QB we are somewhere between 5-2 and 6-1 and this season looks a hell of a lot different
 
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#36
#36
The Tall Gguy said:
Here is a post from a while back talking about Dooley, Jones, and Pruitt.
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Yep that’s from a while back and it’s still wrong.
Most that get hired following one that got fired for losing inherited a mess.
Some inherent a mess at a school on probation, with scholarships took away, crappy facilities and a history of never been relevant in football.
All 3 at UT inherited a mess , but nothing that couldn’t of been turned around and at least pointing in the right direction by year 3-4.
Problem here is none could figure out how to turn the ship
 
#37
#37
Rickyvol77 said:
Tennessee is not a "learn as you go" type job, and Pruitt is definitely doing that. My biggest issue with him is playing JG honestly.

I truly believe with a different QB we are somewhere between 5-2 and 6-1 and this season looks a hell of a lot different
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I disagree, if he was learning we would of had a different QB the las couple of games.
 
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#38
#38
This post makes no sense. UT needs to fire this loser and go hire a proven head coach. Some earlier mention Mark Richt, who is not exciting but is an immense upgrade over Bama Gump. Holding on to Pruitt and hoping makes no sense.
 
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#39
#39
GVol1966 said:
Yep that’s from a while back and it’s still wrong.
Most that get hired following one that got fired for losing inherited a mess.
Some inherent a mess at a school on probation, with scholarships took away, crappy facilities and a history of never been relevant in football.
All 3 at UT inherited a mess , but nothing that couldn’t of been turned around and at least pointing in the right direction by year 3-4.
Problem here is none could figure out how to turn the ship
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Is a dumpster fire inherent or inherited from the previous coach?
 
#40
#40
The Tall Gguy said:
Is a dumpster fire inherent or inherited from the previous coach?
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Yes! And the new guy is hired to put out the fire, here just like everywhere else.
If it’s still flaming up 3 years later the wrong guy was hired.
A little smoke can be expected but full blown flames, nah.
 
#41
#41
Tennessee likes to hire Dollar Tree coaches. Then they structure contracts like their Whole Foods coaches.
 
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#42
#42
We have a lot of experience at hiring and firing coaches during the last 10-12 years. We should have learned something during that span of years, yet fans want us to continue to do it. We cant do anything about now because we have run out of money and our income is down by at least 35% this year. I believe that the financial condition will improve by the end of next year and our football team will also. Let s not make a lasting decision of this "throw away" season.
 
#43
#43
Our last 4 hires have been kiffin, Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt. So NO, UT definitely is NOT good at hiring new coaches.
 
#45
#45
SaintLouisVol said:
i believe I have managed my expectations well with Dooley, Jones, and now Pruitt.

My philosophy is pretty simple. It’s “when things stop improving, he’s hit his ceiling.” My only requirement is to see improvement. I honestly wouldn’t care if it took 6-7 years to compete with elite teams if the team looked better every year.

I’ve lost hope with Pruitt because the team is regressing. They’re worse than last year. And that’s with a significant influx of talent.

OP, what do you see that leads you to believe the curve is simply going change and all of the sudden they’re going to start playing better in year four, or year five? Doesn’t consistent improvement seem much more likely to demonstrate capability than a sudden change? You think they’re just going to get good overnight?
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I believe ANY coach with no experience that you hire should get 5 years. We will not go out and hire a big time coach away from another program. We are going to hire a coordinator or head coach at a small school. I think in 3 years, unless you get lucky, you would be in better shape keeping your coach that has had a chance to learn, than to bring in another unproven new coach. I will say again that i am not a Pruitt fan, mainly because of JG. I don't think you fire your way to success though.
 
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