Too good not to share - from Stoerner Fumbles:
A couple of quick updates from inadmissible hearsay from a very unreliable source who speaks very little English and wishes he never met me: Search firm is moving in overdrive. My friend says they are doing background checks and character interviews on AD candidates already. While it seems to be the journalists’ opinion that an AD won’t be hired until mid February, my friend says he can’t see it going more than a week. He says that there is the most organized group behind how to hire that there has been on any search. There is also the most money prepared to hire someone. He guessed that there is over 40mm to hire a coach on a five plus year contract. He said that the university has the be careful in how they handle the hire. It needs to be perceived as a thoughtful response to the past infractions, or it won’t play well with the NCAA or SEC. Right now, we’re in hot water with both. On Pruitt, my friend said there is a real sadness for the damage done. Some of those fired in compliance were kids following orders. Many of them were told what to say, and then fired for saying it. Players and signees were assured by Pruitt and Fulmer that things would be ok, and he would not be fired. Phil resigned as much for that as he did for Pruitt’s failure. For all Phil’s mistakes, I think he may regret the last few weeks of fighting for Pruitt the most. People who know him say he’s crushed and in a daze. To be clear, Pruitt’s failure was epic, and began on day one. In the early days Pruitt treated AD staff, compliance and even professors like they served the team. Prior to Plowman, more than one person elevated concerns that Pruitt and Nieds practices were too egregious and would be caught. Those concerns were ignored. Many were rooting for him to fail, and many expected it. Pruitt’s style is to use his allegiance of players, and threats to micromanage others. Many of our on the field failures were him making a point. Friend pushed back on cross-training all linemen like high schoolers, and Pruitt tripled cross-training them. Look at West Virginia game for results. This year, Chaney designed three core plays for Shrout without discussing with Pruitt. He used them in a scrimmage, and blew away the D. While it’s a common thing for OC and DC to try things in a scrimmage, Pruitt threw a public fit, and said we’d never see those plays in a game. Pruitt changed starting DL lineup before KY game, and humiliated Brumbaugh in front of team and fired him. Look at the score for the results. This is the kind of thing he was willing to do just to make a point. In the conference people perceive that Nieds and Pruitt created an “arms race” on player payment. (More hearsay) Big signees families typically were given a standard payment in many tens of thousands. There are even instances of players receiving money and signing elsewhere. It will be interesting to see how much of this the NCAA wants to face. UT is on the record after the investigation. Many other coaches know who else plays dirty. The money and power will not want a light shined or Georgia or Bama. Given that Georgia is where some paid players landed, it will be harder for them to hide. The NCAA will be very cautious in how they handle us given the possibility of opening more wounds by digging too deep. That said, our list of level one and two violations is a long one. As for current coaches, they aren’t being given much communication or support for understanding what’s next. Frankly they don’t even know who to listen to. Steele is the key communication point for players. He’s doing a good job. Pruitt spoke highly of him in his message to players. They see Steele as trustworthy. Look for the university to hire an AD quickly, and to make a big offer to a coach with a good reputation and long track record. If you can imagine a candidate selling glitter-coated bibles at a strip club, he probably isn’t getting hired. We probably won’t be hiring Joey Freshwater, Jamey Jet Ski or Reverend Blindside. I’m not judging the quality of those guys as coaches, but no one expects the Chancellor to ride with the devil on this one. Consensus seems to be they are going to pay serious money for a very experienced candidate who will sign a long term deal. Some of the names being discussed are very impressive. I have no idea how realistic they are. If they succeed with that tier, we’ll all be very happy. If they move down a level, expect stability over glitz. Strange times on the hill.
