Pruitts hire compared to other 4 BIG names two years ago............

#51
#51
14-10 would have looked much better. I like Pruitt. I think he's the best coach of the game UT has had in a long time. I am still not sure about his ability to be a winning HC. I think he is doing some things really well. He and his staff seem to be a lot more honest with the players even at the risk of losing them. Ultimately being the HC is about finding the right talent, creating the right culture, and making good decisions. I like the culture changes so far. I have a good feeling about his recruiting but it has to be proven with play. I think his decision making has been a bit of a mixed bag- mostly good but some question marks too.



That said, I wouldn't have minded Frost. He has a long hill to climb at Nebraska but he seems like a quality coach.

I am glad UT did not pursue Chip Kelly... though I am not writing him off at UCLA yet.

Mullen inherited a good situation and hasn't blown it. I'm curious to see if he sustains once he runs out of someone else's players. I personally think he would have struggled at UT. He isn't a very energetic recruiter.

I never thought that much of Jimbo Fisher either. Again, he may succeed once he gets players more to his liking but he had a lot of advantages at FSU and led the program downhill. Glad he's not at UT.

Taggart inherited Fisher's mess. Probably a better coach than he showed.... but he didn't fix it. I don't think his style would have meshed well at UT.

Joe Moorhead... is not going to win. MSU went bargain shopping. Wouldn't have wanted him as a coordinator at UT much less HC.

I like Sumlin. I think he might have had some success at UT if the lessons from TAM carried over.

No opinion on Cristobal.
I felt this one when he was a TAMU the first few years, but I think we've got exactly what we needed. Pruitt is going to build a solid D and the rest should follow.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vols4evah
#52
#52
I know i’m on an island but i don’t think it’s fair to say Mullen has been a good hire. I want to see what happens in a few more years. I have this feeling it’s all smoke and mirrors right now and he was hired with a stable of players that just couldn’t get past GA. I could be wrong but Mullen is also a f’in dork and i didn’t want his gitchy sayings in Knoxville anyways.
This...I think dork is the perfect word for him....In 3 years when he is still losing to Kirby and CJP is kicking his rump...and he is finishing 3rd in the east his Butch like spin will grow old......lets see if Fl fans and players are buying his crap then.....I'm not sold.
 
#53
#53
By the time Saban leaves we will know what kind of coach Pruitt is. If he's legit then he will have UT in a spot where Alabama will be a lateral move. Not worried there.
 
#56
#56
If so, they also play in much weaker conferences. Tennessee would have won the Big 12 or the PAC 12 this year.
So you're convinced we can beat Oklahoma and Baylor, right now? You do know they are a couple of the best teams in the country? I'll go even further, we would beat any other team, no problem at all, as long as they aren't one of the SEC teams that beat us this year! We should ranked at least in the top 5, but there is always next season.
 
#57
#57
Where I think the difference is with the coaches being compared is Jeremy Pruitt was an accomplished assistant but never a head coach. He seems to have the work effort to push himself as hard as he does his players to become a great head coach
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64
#58
#58
Mullen went to Florida on Nov 25th before the Schiano fiasco. 13 days after Butch was fired. And 1 day after he agreed to meet with Currie. Move more quickly, and Mullen may have been on The Hill Nov 25th. We at least had a chance at that guy.
Mullen was waiting on the Florida offer no matter what, we may have had a shot if the Florida gig wasn't open but with it open he was definitely going there regardless
 
#60
#60
Bama is gonna get a proven coach over Pruitt imo. They have the money and willing to spend it. No way they take someone who hasn't done anything will be on top of their list .
 
#61
#61
Pruitt has proven he can grow. I sad after the Ga State loss that it was worth it IF he learned something from it. I’d rather him learn hard lessons now than when he’s built something good.

He learned you don’t sleep on a single team and every win matters.

If he continues to keep his mindset I think he can have very Saban-like success here. He seems like a workaholic who is never satisfied, and I like that.

looking forward to the bowl and UT team that’s still hungry.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VAVol85
#65
#65
Part of Mullen's success is his AD and their relationship at UF. As a refresher he's supposedly a prickly guy. He was Mullen's AD at MSU. UF canned their AD hired the MSU guy for that job who in turn hired Mullen to coach the gatas.
Didn’t realize that...so we never had a realistic shot at Mullins.
 
#66
#66
Of the teams that were in the worst shape, which in my mind were Nebraska, Tennessee, UCLA, and Arizona (and they at least made a bowl game), we are clearly in the best shape of those 4 now. We also are the only one without a losing record/the only one that made a bowl game. Moorehead sucks, and just happened to inherit an elite defense from Mullen's team. Florida also had a bad record, but they were very talented, but happened to have the worst coach in the SEC other than Butch. Overall, I'm happy with Pruitt.
 
#67
#67
Does anyone here miss Adrian Martinez QB Nebraska and think Scott Frost stole him from us? Some folks said at the time that Pruitt lost that one. I for one am fine w/o Martinez
 
#68
#68
There was no discernible talent difference in what Mullen and Pruitt inherited except TN has been dramatically under-performing on the field for a decade.

Average recruit rankings from 2014 - 2017, prior to Muller and Pruitt taking the reins in 2018: (UF) 88.76 & (UT) 88.74
Average recruit rankings from 2013 - 2017, prior to Muller and Pruitt taking the reins in 2018: (UF) 89.17 & (UT) 88.16

It may just be that Mullen can coach a little.
 
#69
#69
You left out my main man Herman "Play to WIN the game" Edwards for ASU!!

Doing good things there as a first time college coach.

I live right down the street from ASU. Herm definitely has them playing exciting and competitive football. He also had a young QB and team who are only going to getter better. With that said, wow, he has made some very confusing game day decisions. Namely trying a 2 point conversion to win at Oregon State instead of taking the less talented team to OT.
 
#71
#71
I know i’m on an island but i don’t think it’s fair to say Mullen has been a good hire. I want to see what happens in a few more years. I have this feeling it’s all smoke and mirrors right now and he was hired with a stable of players that just couldn’t get past GA. I could be wrong but Mullen is also a f’in dork and i didn’t want his gitchy sayings in Knoxville anyways.

I guess I’m stranded on the island with you as well. There is just something about Mullen that makes me question whether he will ever be elite.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64
#72
#72
Well over 2 years ago or so Jeremy Priutt was hired as Tennessee's HFC. Most people in Tennessee were mostly postiive. The "national" media was on the fence and thought Tennessee had the bottom rung of jobs and Tennessee was left out of some of the big name splash hires. So lets take a look at where Pruitt stands in relation to all the other hires of that season.

*******Order is Athlon Sports before the start of 2018 season*******
Scott Frost..........Nebraska 9-14
Dan Mullen....Florida 20-5
Chip Kelly.........ULCA 7-16
Jimbo Fisher......TAMU 16-8
Willie Tagert......FSU 10-12 (FIRED)
Joe Moorehead....MSU 13-11
Chad Morris........Arkansas 4-18 (FIRED)
Kevin Sumlin........Arizona 9-14
Jeremy Pruitt.......Tennessee 12-12
Mario Cristobal....Oregon 19-7

Thoughts??? Discussion..... Did Tennesssee get a good coach? money's worth. I know they did get better bang for their buck than the TAMU crowd. 70 Million for 10 years and they just went 7-5. I bet if they re-ranked them it would be
Dan Mullen
Mario
Jimbo
Pruitt
Moorehead....maybe?
Too many variables but let’s look at record:

A&M went 8-5 before Fisher and they went 7-6 his first year and are sitting at the same record at best. He was playing with an average recruiting class of 13 this last year.

Mullen inherited a 4 win team and has won ten games two years in a row. He may get to 11. He did it with an average recruiting class of 11.5 this last year.

Moorhead inherited a 9-4 team and went 8-5 and 7-6 at best this year. He had an average recruiting class of a rank of 25.75 this last year.

Tennessee inherited a 4-7 team and has improved to 5-7 and 8-5 at best. He did it with an average recruiting class ranking of 16.25 this year.

I think the clear front runner is Mullen. None of these teams averaged a top 10 or down recruiting class. He is close to tripling the number of wins they had before him. Morehead inherited a program trending in the right direction. The only reason he got the job was because one of the best coaches in the SEC left. He may get two or three less wins this year.

Pruitt also inherited a 4 win team. He possibly could have gotten to ten wins this year, but I think we were in much worse shape than FL despite having the same record they did in 2017. I think this being Chaney’s first year here also hurt our O in the beginning of the year and Pruitt’s D wasn’t tracking yet. On top of that we clearly had some toxicity to deal with.

Still, Mullen gets the nod here. We are lucky to have gotten Pruitt after the mess of a coaching search that included missing on Mullen.

I hope Pruitt can do it. I knew it was a big mistake not to jump on Mullen when we had the chance, but that doesn’t mean that Pruitt won’t build a D that can stop Mullens’ O over time. He has done it before.

Outside of the SEC is Cristobal. He inherited a 7-6 team that was already trending upwards from a 4-8 team in a weak conference. It is only a three game improvement. Cristobal played with an average of 16th recruiting class. I have to put the job behind what Pruitt is doing.
 
Last edited:
#73
#73
Lol. He’s won 10 games in back to back years and doing it with a back up QB.

Wish we had a few years of that kind of smoke and mirrors.

Just like we say about Pruitt, let’s not get too excited about two years. We will know a lot more about both after 5 years. Our 5 and 7 win seasons and Mullen’s 10 win seasons may not amount to much over a 5+ year span. I still don’t think FL 10 wins are that big of a deal. Outside of Auburn have they really upset any elite teams?
 
#74
#74
Mullen is the better coach right now. He should be, he's had time to develop at miss st. But when you compare CP and mullen's record after two years of being a hc( which I think is more fair of a comparison), mullen has a slight advantage over CP and in his 3rd year he had a drop off in terms of record. CP is developing as a HC, I think we all can see that and if he just keeps doing what he's doing and can upgrade in areas where he can, Tennessee will be in good hands. JMO of course.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64
#75
#75
I live right down the street from ASU. Herm definitely has them playing exciting and competitive football. He also had a young QB and team who are only going to getter better. With that said, wow, he has made some very confusing game day decisions. Namely trying a 2 point conversion to win at Oregon State instead of taking the less talented team to OT.

Well...

YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAAAAME!
Hellooooo?? 😅
 

VN Store



Back
Top