Its a weird line theyre straddling right now.
Vanderbilt and Tennessee arent on the same level as total programs obviously, but theyve won 4 of the last 6. Tennessee has been so bad for so long. At this point its not just a down turn so much as its the perceived reality of the program.
Pruitt is having a hard time getting TN high school coaches to buy into what hes selling. Some of it is due to his brash nature which takes a while to acclimate to. Some of it is the fact that he is, in essence, a high school coach from Alabama at his core and there is some skepticism there. But most of it has to do with the fact that Derek Dooley totally ignored relationship building with high school coaches in the state. Butch attacked it and fixed those issues, but now all those guys he had good relationships with are naturally skeptical of buying in so soon to Pruitt because they quickly found out Butch was a narcissistic ******* who did not have their players best interests at heart.