Biso
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- Oct 6, 2017
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I'm going to post this, then I'm going to duck for cover while y'all blast me. Listen, no one was more disappointed in yesterday's outcome than I was. I wasn't sold on Pruitt when Fulmer hired him, but I spent the last month convincing myself that Tennessee was going to give West Virginia a run for its money. We might not beat them, but we might...and we'd certainly cover the spread. To see Grier pass the ball so easily against our clueless secondary in the second half was frustrating. To know that your new head coach is a defensive mind and to come to the realization that your defense is subpar at every position and hardly improved from last season is disheartening. If I'm being honest, I'm a little less certain now than I was 24 hours ago that Pruitt can turn things around here. I've lowed my floor for this UT team from 4-8 to 3-9. I've gone from being confident the Vols will be bowl eligible this season to just hoping they will be.
But with all that said, I can't believe how many posts there are here from people who are ready to write Pruitt off completely after just one game as a head coach. C'mon, people. We don't know if Pruitt can be successful...but we also don't know that he can't be. He may turn out to be another Derek Dooley, or he may turn out to be another Kirby Smart. But we don't know after one game, we were never gonna know after one game, regardless of the outcome. For that matter, we won't know after the Florida game.
Can I just remind everyone that if a coach's worth was determined with one bad game, Nick Saban wouldn't have five national championships at Alabama because he would've never been allowed to coach beyond his first season. That 21-14 loss to Louisiana-Monroe in 2007 is probably the most inexplicable loss in his coaching career. And, yeah, there were plenty of Alabama fans who were ready to ride him out of Tuscaloosa on a rail after that game -- just like y'all are ready to tar and feather Pruitt now. I remember how the Tide boards melted down after that game. That was a ULM team that was nowhere near as talented as West Virginia (and that's obviously an understatement), it was an Alabama team that had more talent and more experience than this Tennessee team has, and it was not Saban's first game, which would've been a little more understandable...it was in November, after Alabama players had nearly an entire season under their belt as part of Saban's system.
Getting completely and thoroughly dominated by West Virginia sucks. But it isn't the end of the world and it's way too soon to think we can pass judgment on Pruitt as a coach.
But with all that said, I can't believe how many posts there are here from people who are ready to write Pruitt off completely after just one game as a head coach. C'mon, people. We don't know if Pruitt can be successful...but we also don't know that he can't be. He may turn out to be another Derek Dooley, or he may turn out to be another Kirby Smart. But we don't know after one game, we were never gonna know after one game, regardless of the outcome. For that matter, we won't know after the Florida game.
Can I just remind everyone that if a coach's worth was determined with one bad game, Nick Saban wouldn't have five national championships at Alabama because he would've never been allowed to coach beyond his first season. That 21-14 loss to Louisiana-Monroe in 2007 is probably the most inexplicable loss in his coaching career. And, yeah, there were plenty of Alabama fans who were ready to ride him out of Tuscaloosa on a rail after that game -- just like y'all are ready to tar and feather Pruitt now. I remember how the Tide boards melted down after that game. That was a ULM team that was nowhere near as talented as West Virginia (and that's obviously an understatement), it was an Alabama team that had more talent and more experience than this Tennessee team has, and it was not Saban's first game, which would've been a little more understandable...it was in November, after Alabama players had nearly an entire season under their belt as part of Saban's system.
Getting completely and thoroughly dominated by West Virginia sucks. But it isn't the end of the world and it's way too soon to think we can pass judgment on Pruitt as a coach.
