Stop with the fire Pruitt stuff

[JonGrudensAgent]

I think they better sign Pruitt to an extension before Bama starts looking at him for Sabans eventual replacement.

 

[FlyFishnVol]

So prior to season, we have talent, and you have the expectation that the coaches have further developed that talent. After the season starts, you've changed your mind that we in fact don't have talent, but you still believe that the coaches have done all that they could to prepare the team?

Well, when you put that way............I guess your right, I did say I was disappointed I am going to go out on a limb here, I think CJP is about disappointed with the development as we are, he hired these new coaches to step back and let them do their thing and now we are 1-3...........so, was he wrong to "step back" and did his new hires let him down.............I think they did.

 

[ProudVOLfan]

I think they better sign Pruitt to an extension before Bama starts looking at him for Sabans eventual replacement.

 

[FlyFishnVol]

You actually used to think that a team “could” improve in year two........but now you know better?

Seriously

We all know that Tennessee was and is in bad shape. We know Tennessee needs more and better recruits.......that kind of stuff matters more when Tennessee is playing SEC teams.

That does not matter when playing GA ST and BYU. We should at the very least see improvements, motivation, preparation, discipline, ect (in every game thus far).

He isn’t going anywhere so it’s really moot. However while you have hope, many of us see a non improving team and complain.....the customer has the right to complain when you buy something and it is not as advertised.

Yes, its one of my better qualities, I know when I wrong. We are talking about this particular team right? There are actually fans that predicted this outcome, maybe I should pay better attention to their rational? All I am saying, like 1,000s of fans, I am an eternal optimist when it comes to UT Football, I will more than likely hyper exaggerate either the negative or positive...........when it came to the 2019 team, hyper exaggerated what I thought would be a great season 8 wins+. My advice to you, don't go to Vegas on my advice..............I'm human..........sue me.

 

[JoAllan]

Yes, its one of my better qualities, I know when I wrong. We are talking about this particular team right? There are actually fans that predicted this outcome, maybe I should pay better attention to their rational? All I am saying, like 1,000s of fans, I am an eternal optimist when it comes to UT Football, I will more than likely hyper exaggerate either the negative or positive...........when it came to the 2019 team, hyper exaggerated what I thought would be a great season 8 wins+. My advice to you, don't go to Vegas on my advice..............I'm human..........sue me.

No problem with being optimistic.

But when someone says “I had hoped to see improvement” there’s nothing pessimistic about that, and it has as much validity as the “sunshine” people’s thoughts.

We just disagree. You hope I’m wrong, and I certainly hope I’m wrong.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

I'm as down about Tennessee football as I've ever been. I grew up in the 80s, watching tough, hard-nosed Majors-coached teams. I grew of age watching the Fulmer teams and I was a junior at Tennessee when we won it all. I grew up expecting UT to be elite. An 8-win season was a bad year. I'm as impatient as anyone right now. I'm tired of the decade-long futility. But calling for Pruitt's head right now simply doesn't help anything.

Jeremy Pruitt inherited an absolute mess. Some of y'all refuse to accept how bad this roster is, both in terms of talents and mental toughness. He's only had one recruiting class and that freshman class is easily the most talented on this roster, WITHOUT the benefit of a few years of development. The last thing this program needs right now is more turnover. More drama. With that comes more negativity, more buyouts, less money available to pay a coach, new systems, and more transfers.

Furthermore, I'm going to say something that will be wildly unpopular among many in this fanbase:

Tennessee has a good football coach.

That's right. Jeremy Pruitt is the best defensive mind on The Hill since Ken Donahue. Pruitt is tough. Pruitt understands the game and he understands players. He's a great recruiter because players relate to him. He's the son of a coach. He knows how to teach. Players who want to give max effort love him. Those who don't, they move on. This isn't a trumpet player from Ferris State or the son of a Georgia legend taking advantage of nepotism...this is a guy who coordinated multiple NC defenses at two different schools and drastically improved the defense at Georgia. He has a track record as impressive as Stoops when OU hired him, Fisher when FSU hired him, Smart when UGA hired him, etc. In fact, it might be more impressive than those guys because he won a NC and had elite success at multiple stops. He will make mistakes as a first-time Head Coach, but he will learn from them and grow. If Tennessee fires him, he'll apply those lessons somewhere else, while we're starting over with a new coach.

Football is a team sport, but no position in sports affects a team's success as much as QB play. Tennessee has a horrible QB right now. And it has 2 freshmen behind him. Tennessee's OLine has actually improved this season. But the upper class talent simply is not there. And it won't be there until Pruitt gets his guys in there.

Stop with the negativity. This was never going to be a 1 or 2 year turnaround. The roster was too talentless, the culture too toxic, the mentality of the Butch-recruited players too weak. Sometimes, you have to tear something down before building it back up. That's what we're watching right now. Tennessee may go 2-10. Hell, it may go 1-11. I don't care. Tear it down. Because what happens this year, whether it's 2 wins or 5, doesn't matter. What matters is what happens down the road. I think we have the man in place to get us there. We're going to have to exercise some more patience because the alternative simply prolongs the rebuild.

Oh, and read this article by Rucker. He makes some great points: Rucker: Let’s be real about size, scope of Vols’ rebuild

We can wait until the recruiting tanks after a 1 or 2 win season. Then he goes.

 

[screenthis]

No problem with being optimistic.

But when someone says “I had hoped to see improvement” there’s nothing pessimistic about that, and it has as much validity as the “sunshine” people’s thoughts.

We just disagree. You hope I’m wrong, and I certainly hope I’m wrong.

Saying 'I hoped to see improvement' is fine. I'm still amazed at how poorly coached Tennessee was against Ga. State. My issue is with those that have run completely to pessimism. Boycotts, Fire the Coach, so much more. That's what is non-helpful.

 

[pdogg]

I'm as down about Tennessee football as I've ever been. I grew up in the 80s, watching tough, hard-nosed Majors-coached teams. I grew of age watching the Fulmer teams and I was a junior at Tennessee when we won it all. I grew up expecting UT to be elite. An 8-win season was a bad year. I'm as impatient as anyone right now. I'm tired of the decade-long futility. But calling for Pruitt's head right now simply doesn't help anything.

Jeremy Pruitt inherited an absolute mess. Some of y'all refuse to accept how bad this roster is, both in terms of talents and mental toughness. He's only had one recruiting class and that freshman class is easily the most talented on this roster, WITHOUT the benefit of a few years of development. The last thing this program needs right now is more turnover. More drama. With that comes more negativity, more buyouts, less money available to pay a coach, new systems, and more transfers.

Furthermore, I'm going to say something that will be wildly unpopular among many in this fanbase:

Tennessee has a good football coach.

That's right. Jeremy Pruitt is the best defensive mind on The Hill since Ken Donahue. Pruitt is tough. Pruitt understands the game and he understands players. He's a great recruiter because players relate to him. He's the son of a coach. He knows how to teach. Players who want to give max effort love him. Those who don't, they move on. This isn't a trumpet player from Ferris State or the son of a Georgia legend taking advantage of nepotism...this is a guy who coordinated multiple NC defenses at two different schools and drastically improved the defense at Georgia. He has a track record as impressive as Stoops when OU hired him, Fisher when FSU hired him, Smart when UGA hired him, etc. In fact, it might be more impressive than those guys because he won a NC and had elite success at multiple stops. He will make mistakes as a first-time Head Coach, but he will learn from them and grow. If Tennessee fires him, he'll apply those lessons somewhere else, while we're starting over with a new coach.

Football is a team sport, but no position in sports affects a team's success as much as QB play. Tennessee has a horrible QB right now. And it has 2 freshmen behind him. Tennessee's OLine has actually improved this season. But the upper class talent simply is not there. And it won't be there until Pruitt gets his guys in there.

Stop with the negativity. This was never going to be a 1 or 2 year turnaround. The roster was too talentless, the culture too toxic, the mentality of the Butch-recruited players too weak. Sometimes, you have to tear something down before building it back up. That's what we're watching right now. Tennessee may go 2-10. Hell, it may go 1-11. I don't care. Tear it down. Because what happens this year, whether it's 2 wins or 5, doesn't matter. What matters is what happens down the road. I think we have the man in place to get us there. We're going to have to exercise some more patience because the alternative simply prolongs the rebuild.

Oh, and read this article by Rucker. He makes some great points: Rucker: Let’s be real about size, scope of Vols’ rebuild

I would argue and say Justin Wilcox was the best defensive mind on the Hill recently to see what he’s done over his career with the players he has had to work with.

 

[MAUSERWERKE]

4 million a year will look like pocket change if Pruitt is able to do what we are hoping for - which is to become as dominant as UT football is supposed to and used to be in few years. Yes, the sooner the better but just because you are paying someone 4 million does not mean they are guaranteeed to fix the huge structural issues that have been created over 10 years (this no guaranteed in football, or in any other business - and especially not in SEC footbal that is so competitive). By the way all of our coaches have been very successfull in other places (arguably we really have the best staff in the country and this time it's not a joke like it was when Butch said that about his Cincy bearcat staff).

This! The idea of many posters is that the current coach should be accountable for (and should be able to immediately fix) the sins of the multiple coaches who came before him. I have been involved in too many corporate makeovers and "rebuilds" to buy that. It takes time. Just because "its been XX years that UT has sucked" is not Pruitt's fault. The fan frustration is understandable. The idea that Pruitt "has to fix it now" because of that fan frustration is absurd.

The idea that UT would fire Pruitt after this season, no matter the results, is ridiculous. Now if the product on the field is looking this bad in the middle of next season, I think reasonable judgments can start to be formed.

 

[JoAllan]

Saying 'I hoped to see improvement' is fine. I'm still amazed at how poorly coached Tennessee was against Ga. State. My issue is with those that have run completely to pessimism. Boycotts, Fire the Coach, so much more. That's what is non-helpful.

Truthfully if we/they are doing it here it means nothing. It hurts no one nor does it hurt the program in any way.

I express frustration, hoping for better in the future, even if that means a different coach.

Don’t get me wrong the coach isn’t going anywhere. However I (and others) express whatever (even the firing of a coach) because we have hope in the future.

Much like many, pump sunshine because they have hope.....they just have hope in this coach.....not much difference, just a slight in the “who” and slight different opinion (although it all looks WAY different).

 

[T2P_Priceless]

View attachment 227662

I don't understand why people resort to making fun of people's looks or physical attributes. First, it's childish and second what does that have to do with his skill?

 

[Chippo]

I'm as down about Tennessee football as I've ever been. I grew up in the 80s, watching tough, hard-nosed Majors-coached teams. I grew of age watching the Fulmer teams and I was a junior at Tennessee when we won it all. I grew up expecting UT to be elite. An 8-win season was a bad year. I'm as impatient as anyone right now. I'm tired of the decade-long futility. But calling for Pruitt's head right now simply doesn't help anything.

Jeremy Pruitt inherited an absolute mess. Some of y'all refuse to accept how bad this roster is, both in terms of talents and mental toughness. He's only had one recruiting class and that freshman class is easily the most talented on this roster, WITHOUT the benefit of a few years of development. The last thing this program needs right now is more turnover. More drama. With that comes more negativity, more buyouts, less money available to pay a coach, new systems, and more transfers.

Furthermore, I'm going to say something that will be wildly unpopular among many in this fanbase:

Tennessee has a good football coach.

That's right. Jeremy Pruitt is the best defensive mind on The Hill since Ken Donahue. Pruitt is tough. Pruitt understands the game and he understands players. He's a great recruiter because players relate to him. He's the son of a coach. He knows how to teach. Players who want to give max effort love him. Those who don't, they move on. This isn't a trumpet player from Ferris State or the son of a Georgia legend taking advantage of nepotism...this is a guy who coordinated multiple NC defenses at two different schools and drastically improved the defense at Georgia. He has a track record as impressive as Stoops when OU hired him, Fisher when FSU hired him, Smart when UGA hired him, etc. In fact, it might be more impressive than those guys because he won a NC and had elite success at multiple stops. He will make mistakes as a first-time Head Coach, but he will learn from them and grow. If Tennessee fires him, he'll apply those lessons somewhere else, while we're starting over with a new coach.

Football is a team sport, but no position in sports affects a team's success as much as QB play. Tennessee has a horrible QB right now. And it has 2 freshmen behind him. Tennessee's OLine has actually improved this season. But the upper class talent simply is not there. And it won't be there until Pruitt gets his guys in there.

Stop with the negativity. This was never going to be a 1 or 2 year turnaround. The roster was too talentless, the culture too toxic, the mentality of the Butch-recruited players too weak. Sometimes, you have to tear something down before building it back up. That's what we're watching right now. Tennessee may go 2-10. Hell, it may go 1-11. I don't care. Tear it down. Because what happens this year, whether it's 2 wins or 5, doesn't matter. What matters is what happens down the road. I think we have the man in place to get us there. We're going to have to exercise some more patience because the alternative simply prolongs the rebuild.

Oh, and read this article by Rucker. He makes some great points: Rucker: Let’s be real about size, scope of Vols’ rebuild

Very well said. A lot of thought to a well written article. Chippo

 

[Bob Neyland]

I guess your cheap shots don’t count?

I didn’t take a cheap shot. I only responded to one.

 

[The_411]

Chad Morris went 2-10 at Arkansas last year. Should they have fired him because he had nothing to sell? He also went 2-10 at SMU and was 7-5 2 years later.
Brian Kelly went 4-8 in 2016 (his 7th year at ND). He was still able to recruit.
Chip Kelly went 3-9 last year at UCLA. Should he have been fired because how do you sell that to recruits?

I think some of y'all place way too much weight on how much kids factor records into their decision. I'm not saying it isn't a factor...it is. But it's not weighed nearly as heavily as relationships.

No, Pruitt won't land a top 5 class this season after going 2-10. But he'll find and land guys who are SEC level recruits he can turn into SEC level players.

The notion that Pruitt has proven himself incapable of getting this done after 1 season and 4 games is absurd.

The coaches you listed have coaching achievement equity. Pruitt has none.

Listing the exceptions to the rule completely ignores that there are 20-25 coaches who has terrible seasons and then kept on sucking.

If make decisions hoping statistical outliers are going to come good you’ll be wrong 99/100

 

[Volphin_Fan]

"That's right. Jeremy Pruitt is the best defensive mind on The Hill since Ken Donahue."

Ironically Ken Donahue, as good as a defensive mind as he was, got fired mid-season by Johnny Majors in 1988.
I'm not saying to fire Pruitt mid-season but a lot of the media and fans keep saying that we need to give Pruitt another year (2020) due to optics. If he goes 2-10 or 3-9 this year, I think you are dealing with the inevitable. You are still screwed with the recruits and the multi-million dollar payouts for the coaches whether you cut him loose 2019 or 2020.

 

[VolsGrad1989]

I'm as down about Tennessee football as I've ever been. I grew up in the 80s, watching tough, hard-nosed Majors-coached teams. I grew of age watching the Fulmer teams and I was a junior at Tennessee when we won it all. I grew up expecting UT to be elite. An 8-win season was a bad year. I'm as impatient as anyone right now. I'm tired of the decade-long futility. But calling for Pruitt's head right now simply doesn't help anything.

Jeremy Pruitt inherited an absolute mess. Some of y'all refuse to accept how bad this roster is, both in terms of talents and mental toughness. He's only had one recruiting class and that freshman class is easily the most talented on this roster, WITHOUT the benefit of a few years of development. The last thing this program needs right now is more turnover. More drama. With that comes more negativity, more buyouts, less money available to pay a coach, new systems, and more transfers.

Furthermore, I'm going to say something that will be wildly unpopular among many in this fanbase:

Tennessee has a good football coach.

That's right. Jeremy Pruitt is the best defensive mind on The Hill since Ken Donahue. Pruitt is tough. Pruitt understands the game and he understands players. He's a great recruiter because players relate to him. He's the son of a coach. He knows how to teach. Players who want to give max effort love him. Those who don't, they move on. This isn't a trumpet player from Ferris State or the son of a Georgia legend taking advantage of nepotism...this is a guy who coordinated multiple NC defenses at two different schools and drastically improved the defense at Georgia. He has a track record as impressive as Stoops when OU hired him, Fisher when FSU hired him, Smart when UGA hired him, etc. In fact, it might be more impressive than those guys because he won a NC and had elite success at multiple stops. He will make mistakes as a first-time Head Coach, but he will learn from them and grow. If Tennessee fires him, he'll apply those lessons somewhere else, while we're starting over with a new coach.

Football is a team sport, but no position in sports affects a team's success as much as QB play. Tennessee has a horrible QB right now. And it has 2 freshmen behind him. Tennessee's OLine has actually improved this season. But the upper class talent simply is not there. And it won't be there until Pruitt gets his guys in there.

Stop with the negativity. This was never going to be a 1 or 2 year turnaround. The roster was too talentless, the culture too toxic, the mentality of the Butch-recruited players too weak. Sometimes, you have to tear something down before building it back up. That's what we're watching right now. Tennessee may go 2-10. Hell, it may go 1-11. I don't care. Tear it down. Because what happens this year, whether it's 2 wins or 5, doesn't matter. What matters is what happens down the road. I think we have the man in place to get us there. We're going to have to exercise some more patience because the alternative simply prolongs the rebuild.

Oh, and read this article by Rucker. He makes some great points: Rucker: Let’s be real about size, scope of Vols’ rebuild

^^^This!!! While UT goes on to hire another 4 million a year guy that can't get it done. If you aren't willing to spend 8 million a year for a PROVEN ELITE HC, Pruitt needs to be given at least 3 years to show improvement and the football program is DEFINITELY HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (winning the SEC EAST once every 3 years, minimum). All the naysayers will be proven wrong about Pruitt as long as Pruitt is here through November of 2020!!!

 

[VolArmy74]

It is debatable. But this roster sucks. That is not debatable. Jeremy Pruitt did not recruit most of this roster. That is not debatable. The freshman class that Pruitt DID recruit looks to be pretty talented. There isn't a coach in America who could succeed with this roster...that IS debatable, but I don't see a lot of ammunition for one who would argue the opposite.

There are degrees of success. Modest success with this roster would be going from 5-7 to 7-5 in year two with how easy the schedule is. It was perfectly set up to do that this year with even a modicum of coaching prowess. Instead the bed was officially crapped in game one and the season was completely in flames in the first 60 minutes.

 

[BeardedVol]

^^^This!!! While UT goes on to hire another 4 million a year guy that can't get it done. If you aren't willing to spend 8 million a year for a PROVEN ELITE HC, Pruitt needs to be given at least 3 years to show improvement and the football program is DEFINITELY HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (winning the SEC EAST once every 3 years, minimum). All the naysayers will be proven wrong about Pruitt as long as Pruitt is here through November of 2020!!!

Yet you have literally nothing to base this on except your hopes and dreams, while the performances so far this season, point to a coach who will not succeed at UT.

 

[VolsGrad1989]

"That's right. Jeremy Pruitt is the best defensive mind on The Hill since Ken Donahue."

Ironically Ken Donahue, as good as a defensive mind as he was, got fired mid-season by Johnny Majors in 1988.
I'm not saying to fire Pruitt mid-season but a lot of the media and fans keep saying that we need to give Pruitt another year (2020) due to optics. If he goes 2-10 or 3-9 this year, I think you are dealing with the inevitable. You are still screwed with the recruits and the multi-million dollar payouts for the coaches whether you cut him loose 2019 or 2020.

Why was he fired by Donahue? Maybe it was because Majors was a drunk and fearful he may lose his job as HC to Donahue. I am not saying that is why. But, NO ONE IN MY LIFETIME HAS SEEN A D PERFORMANCE LIKE THE ONE I WITNESSED VS MIAMI IN THE SUGAR BOWL WHEN UT WAS PROBABLY A 3 TD UNDERDOG AND STOMPED THE CRAP OUT OF MIAMI THAT COULD HAVE WON THE NC HAD THEY BEAT UT!!! That D also didn't have the athletes and speed that several have had since that 85 beat down of Miami!!!

 

[VolsGrad1989]

Yet you have literally nothing to base this on except your hopes and dreams, while the performances so far this season, point to a coach who will not succeed at UT.

It isn't hopes and dreams when you have some football iq. Most of you on this board have none, including yourself. The man didn't all of the sudden forget how to coach. The AU and KY game last year proved them man can flat out coach. Either Fulmer is meddling too much and Pruitt is looking for his buyout. Or, several of the players, mainly upper classmen aren't playing for Pruitt due to jealousy of all the freshmen and sophomores Pruitt is playing that he recruited. I will go with the later. Pruitt will be a great P5 HC within a few years. You can call it hopes and dreams all you want. The man can teach, coach, scheme, and recruit. He just needs polishing on the HC position itself. It will happen!

 

[FlyFishnVol]

No problem with being optimistic.

But when someone says “I had hoped to see improvement” there’s nothing pessimistic about that, and it has as much validity as the “sunshine” people’s thoughts.

We just disagree. You hope I’m wrong, and I certainly hope I’m wrong.

good point..........take care..........Go Vols!

 

[BeardedVol]

It isn't hopes and dreams when you have some football iq. Most of you on this board have none, including yourself. The man didn't all of the sudden forget how to coach. The AU and KY game last year proved them man can flat out coach. Either Fulmer is meddling too much and Pruitt is looking for his buyout. Or, several of the players, mainly upper classmen aren't playing for Pruitt due to jealousy of all the freshmen and sophomores Pruitt is playing that he recruited. I will go with the later. Pruitt will be a great P5 HC within a few years. You can call it hopes and dreams all you want. The man can teach, coach, scheme, and recruit. He just needs polishing on the HC position itself. It will happen!

Feel free to list the successful P5 coaches in the modern era of football, who didn't start having success by their second year at a school, and were still ultimately successful at that school. I'll even do you a favor and give you a short list of those that didn't have some success by their second year and ultimately failed:

John Embree
David Beaty
Joker Phillips
Derek Dooley
Mike Locksley
Lovie Smith
Kevin Steele
Paul Wulff
Chris Ash
Steve Kragthorpe
Ed Orgeron (Ole Miss)
Paul Hackett
John Blake
Ellis Johnson
Greg Robinson

Pruitt has 6 years of DC experience at FSU, Georgia, and Alabama "coaching" top tier talent. There's nothing on his resume that says he can develop 3* players or rebuild a program; literally, nothing

 

[Other_Guy]

So because he's a proven asst coach, you conclude he will succeed as HC?

 

[Volphin_Fan]

It isn't hopes and dreams when you have some football iq. Most of you on this board have none, including yourself. The man didn't all of the sudden forget how to coach. The AU and KY game last year proved them man can flat out coach. Either Fulmer is meddling too much and Pruitt is looking for his buyout. Or, several of the players, mainly upper classmen aren't playing for Pruitt due to jealousy of all the freshmen and sophomores Pruitt is playing that he recruited. I will go with the later. Pruitt will be a great P5 HC within a few years. You can call it hopes and dreams all you want. The man can teach, coach, scheme, and recruit. He just needs polishing on the HC position itself. It will happen!

There is no question Pruitt can teach, coach, scheme and recruit (as you say above) but for whatever reason(s) that has not been apparent since the KY win last season. It doesn't take football IQ to see that, just two eyes.

 

[AM64]

Sooooo, its everyones fault but the guy making 4 million a year? Hmmm ok

Ever ask why coaching salaries are what they are? Spurrier was the first million dollar coach ... probably because in 1996 Tampa Bay offered him $2M to coach for them. I firmly believe that college coaching salary escalated with the poaching of coaches by other colleges and NFL teams. It was quite common earlier to promote HCs from assistant coaching ranks ... see Neyland, Dickey, and Fulmer. I think it would be very enlightening to find a chart of fired P5 football coaches over the past 10-15 years ... specifically noting which were previously HCs vs assistants.