Jeremy Pruitt… worst UT head coach ever?

#102
#102
VolBallGuy said:
I know there are some more really bad ones but I would have to say yes. I’m sure an old timer could school me on someone who was worse (have only been a fan since ‘90) . In my time as a fan I would definitely have to anoint him the worst over Dooley. Beats Dooley out on sheer stupidity and having the personality of a p’d off bag of sand. Also, honestly the played for Bama thing didn’t help him in retrospect with the fans.
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Obviously, you're not familiar with Bill Battle, another Bammer alum. He inherited a great team from Dickey with very good to great players and let it waste away due to lazy recruiting. I will always remember the UT student section (15,000 in those days) joining the North Texas State cheerleaders in the Green Wave cheer during the 1976 game which we lost. Battle made many dumb in-game decisions like faking a punt in our own territory with the lead in the 4th quarter and turning it over to Georgia, who immediately scored and won the game. For sale signs were literally placed in Battle's front yard by Volnation members. After Battle and Pruitt, we should never, never consider hiring a Bammer as our head coach again. Sorry, Coach Cut.
 
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#103
#103
PlanetVolunteer said:
Nope

Butch was the worst
Dooley then Pruitt

Butch did absolutely nothing with superb talent.

If Pruitt had Dobbs he would still be our coach.

It was literally his playing of JG that ruined just about everything.

Now he wasn't great in many other categories, but you saw when the QB play was adequate he won plays and was competitive against Bammer.

Butch was the worst play caller known to man. And was so fake and disgusting.

Dooley just didn't get it.
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Yes, Botch squandered much NFL talent. He also won 3 bowl games in the 4 years he coached here.

Botch is a snake oil salesman and I have no good things to say about him, but Pruitt's teams were just not even coached.
 
#104
#104
Butch is the worst coach in my opinion. He recruited well at first, and that was the ONLY reason he won some games, BUT as far as actual coaching... the guy 1) ran read option with Justin Worley and sat 2) Alvin Kamara on the bench behind a future big 12 WR. Also, our injury situation and team chemistry were ATROCIOUS.

Also led Tennessee to its only 8 lost season... he owns that even though he was fired before he had the chance to officially tally the last 2.

Pruitt and Dooley sucked hard too. Unbelievable we had those slappies lined up back to back to back. Killed the program for over a decade.
 
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#105
#105
I think Dooley was lazier but Pruitt was dumber. This is pretty much the only time ever that a Chaney offense couldn't score. Pruitt hired some good coaches so I can only guess he didn't let them coach.
 
#106
#106
Other_Guy said:
Lol I'm making them mutually exclusive? I thought that was your entire argument? Aren't you arguing that since he is a backwoods hillbilly it's why he wasn't a winner at football?
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I'm saying he should have never been hired as HFC because he spoke English like a 4 year old. I don't care how country he is or because of his southern accent. His communication skills were extremely unprofessional at a level that completely disqualifies him for ever being considered to be a HFC at any college or university
 
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#109
#109
I would argue Derek Dooley was the worse head coach but it was close between Pruitt and him. Dooley did have the disadvantage of playing in an SEC East that had ranked South Carolina, Missouri, Florida, and Georgia teams as well as improved UK and Vandy teams. So Dooley played a harder schedule IMO.
 
#110
#110
USAFgolferVol said:
I'm saying he should have never been hired as HFC because he spoke English like a 4 year old. I don't care how country he is or because of his southern accent. His communication skills were extremely unprofessional at a level that completely disqualifies him for ever being considered to be a HFC at any college or university
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And had he won?
 
#112
#112
He gets my vote as the worst coach. He fails in all aspects of coaching. He owns one of the worst loses in Tennessee history. The loss we had to Kentucky
at Neyland was gut wrenching and I have a lot of gut to wrench. :p
 
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#113
#113
Pruitt was bad, but no one will ever touch Derek Dooley as worst UT coach ever.

At least Pruitt recruited well. Dooley didn't do anything well. Or at least, once you consider the fact that the only reason his offenses were any good is because he inherited Lane Kiffin's recruits and OC. If Dooley came after Fulmer, it would've been even worse; no Tyler Bray or elite O-line prospects or Jim Chaney. We would've had a 2-10 season. Literally the only thing I can think of that Dooley did right was hire Justin Wilcox, and he bolted after 2 years, once he realized it was a sinking ship.

Though, it is truly amazing that we managed to find 3 crap coaches in a row. Or that Butch Jones (an awful coach) was the least bad of the 3.
 
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#117
#117
USAFgolferVol said:
Nothing wrong with hiring their assistants as assistants. Ken Donahue was a good DC
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Ken Donahue played at TN and was Bear Bryant’s longtime DC where his innovative switching of schemes helped lead the Tide to several NC’s . He returned to Knoxville a couple of years after Bryant died where he served as DC for 3 and a half seasons with the highlight being his total dismantling of Miami’s previously unstoppable offense in the ‘86 Sugar Bowl .

Jeremy Pruitt played at UA and was one of many DC’s to work under Nick Saban during national championship winning seasons. Pruitt coached at TN from 2018-2020 where the highlight was a taxslayer bowl victory over Indiana . The lowlights which include a loss to GA ST are too numerous to list . Bear Bryant’s longtime hall of fame trainer Jim Goosetree who started the TSIO cigar tradition was also a UT alum. Tennessee definitely gets the short end of the stick on these “trades “ . The only turd in the punch bowl that TN has ever sent to AL that I can think of is Paul Finebaum .
 
#120
#120
Close race between all crap coaches but look at what botch is doing at ark st, 1-4 is exceeding my expectations of him
 
#121
#121
walkenvol said:
Have a relative who worked in the athletic department when Dooley was there. Said Dooley was a complete arse hat to everyone except the folks he thought could help him out. Said Dooley was the most unlikable coach in any sport at UT that he had worked around.
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I heard from some player he called them all a bunch of p—ies after an OT win or a last second win. It was against a worse team we should have beat, but just said you are all F—-ing pu—ies and walked out.
Lose points for not remembering who it was that told me or even the game.
 
#123
#123
Jermey Pruitt was 16-19 in 3 seasons whereas No Coach was 16-11 in 5 seasons . I do realize that CNC had 2 more seasons than CJP but in his last 9 games Coach Coach was 8-1 while Coach Pruitt was 2-7 so I would definitely say that Pruitt was the worst .
rocky top buzz said:
Normally I hate these questions. Its like when people ask who the best QB was "ever," then they start with Holloway, forgetting that guys like Bobby Dodd played before TV and Dodd only lost 1 game in his UT career.

That said, yes the answer here surely must be Pruitt. Look at this list of all UT seasons/coaches. Sax Crawford was pretty pedestrian but at least he beat bama.

List of Tennessee Volunteers football seasons - Wikipedia
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