The Case for Keeping Pruitt

[DiderotsGhost]

That would be the most UT move ever. Fulmer Fires CJP & goes the cheapest of cheap by hiring Tee. Rip off the band aid, increase the size of the laceration, and put scotch tape on top of the cotton ball. The entire college football world is already laughing at the Vols so make them laugh even louder. Amazed at how low this program has fallen.

That's probably a best case scenario.

I don't think people realize how bad it's going to get if we fire Pruitt right now. We're not getting Hugh Freeze (who just signed a $3mil extension). It's going to be a Derek Dooley type situation. And as much as people want to convince themselves Pruitt is "worse than Dooley", he's not. Dooley was 1-14 against SEC competition in his last 2 years. Pruitt is 7-10. It's not even a comparison.

Pruitt has failed this year, no doubt, but he's gotten some things very right. Just not the whole QB issue. With a good QB, we're 5-2 and everyone is optimistic.

That's why Pruitt needs another year. Unlike Dooley and Butch, who basically destroyed the program, Pruitt has actually done a good job building the program back up. He's just inexplicably stuck with a very terrible QB this year.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

That's probably a best case scenario.

I don't think people realize how bad it's going to get if we fire Pruitt right now. We're not getting Hugh Freeze (who just signed a $3mil extension). It's going to be a Derek Dooley type situation. And as much as people want to convince themselves Pruitt is "worse than Dooley", he's not. Dooley was 1-14 against SEC competition in his last 2 years. Pruitt is 7-10. It's not even a comparison.

Pruitt has failed this year, no doubt, but he's gotten some things very right. Just not the whole QB issue. With a good QB, we're 5-2 and everyone is optimistic.

That's why Pruitt needs another year. Unlike Dooley and Butch, who basically destroyed the program, Pruitt has actually done a good job building the program back up. He's just inexplicably stuck with a very terrible QB this year.

Yeah
That post I wrote earlier was nothing but pure nonsense. I doubt Fulmer shows Pruitt the door this year (but he should). Pruitt is the reason we don’t have a good QB ready to play.

 

[VOL_Lyfe]

 

[kbear01]

I've said it, a thousand times. Jeremy Pruitt chose to put all of his eggs in JG's basket. Then JG handed his basket to opposing teams, on their way to the end zone.
He trusted that JG was going to improve. He hasn't. Why he trusted that JG would improve is beyond me. Did he receive encouraging reports from CJC? Which went along with what he was seeing in practice?
CJP , CJC and C Weinke are all to blame, for a back up QB not being prepared, and for their evaluation of JG, this season. It is inexcusable.
Freshman QB's and new starters have thrived, in other programs.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

That's probably a best case scenario.

I don't think people realize how bad it's going to get if we fire Pruitt right now. We're not getting Hugh Freeze (who just signed a $3mil extension). It's going to be a Derek Dooley type situation. And as much as people want to convince themselves Pruitt is "worse than Dooley", he's not. Dooley was 1-14 against SEC competition in his last 2 years. Pruitt is 7-10. It's not even a comparison.

Pruitt has failed this year, no doubt, but he's gotten some things very right. Just not the whole QB issue. With a good QB, we're 5-2 and everyone is optimistic.

That's why Pruitt needs another year. Unlike Dooley and Butch, who basically destroyed the program, Pruitt has actually done a good job building the program back up. He's just inexplicably stuck with a very terrible QB this year.

I disagree about Freeze’s extension. That’s not an indicator of him not leaving, it’s a 7 figure thank you to Liberty for the chance to start his career over when a big time school comes along to buy him out.

 

[BeardedVol]

That's probably a best case scenario.

I don't think people realize how bad it's going to get if we fire Pruitt right now. We're not getting Hugh Freeze (who just signed a $3mil extension). It's going to be a Derek Dooley type situation. And as much as people want to convince themselves Pruitt is "worse than Dooley", he's not. Dooley was 1-14 against SEC competition in his last 2 years. Pruitt is 7-10. It's not even a comparison.

Pruitt has failed this year, no doubt, but he's gotten some things very right. Just not the whole QB issue. With a good QB, we're 5-2 and everyone is optimistic.

That's why Pruitt needs another year. Unlike Dooley and Butch, who basically destroyed the program, Pruitt has actually done a good job building the program back up. He's just inexplicably stuck with a very terrible QB this year.

You don't go 3-7 with multiple blowout losses if the program is on an upswing. Pruitt is just another bad HC in a long line of bad HC hires at UT. Fulmer has set this program back another decade by extending Pruitt.

 

[SaintLouisVol]

OP, I don't understand why you don't hold coaching accountable for the QB play. Pruitt has three QBs on the roster that he recruited. The argument that Chaney needs "his guy" has no merit. If those guys have the talent and work ethic to be granted a scholarship to play football in the SEC, the coaching staff ought to be able to develop them into serviceable players. If they don't have the talent and work ethic, it's still on the coaches because they offered the scholarships. I get that coaches miss on players, but do they get a pass for missing on all three?

The notion that JG was the best QB on the roster Saturday night before the Auburn game is just deplorable. Whether true or not, it lands completely in the lap of the coaching staff.

Your schedule argument has no merit either. This team will finish 3-5 or 2-6 against the SEC core that they play every year. They were 5-3 last year. That is regression. It is further frustrating that the two extra SEC schools they drew were very beatable. A Tennessee team headed in the right direction, based on last year, should have been 6-4, at worst, this year.

Finally, I would slow my roll with the recruiting arguments. I agree that Pruitt has a better understanding of what kind of player is needed to be successful in this league, but the teams he needs to beat are still getting a whole lot more of them than he is.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

I disagree about Freeze’s extension. That’s not an indicator of him not leaving, it’s a 7 figure thank you to Liberty for the chance to start his career over when a big time school comes along to buy him out.

Which will be in 2021 or 2022, not 2020.

Freeze knows 2020 is not the best market and it doesn't hurt him at all to have another year of "good behavior" at Liberty, especially when they are paying him $3 mil to do so.

Next year, is going to be a bonanza for Freeze. But he's not leaving this year when the salaries will be suppressed and the options slim.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Which will be in 2021 or 2022, not 2020.

Freeze knows 2020 is not the best market and it doesn't hurt him at all to have another year of "good behavior" at Liberty, especially when they are paying him $3 mil to do so.

Next year, is going to be a bonanza for Freeze. But he's not leaving this year when the salaries will be suppressed and the options slim.

Lol, Freeze will leave Liberty in a heart beat if he gets a serious offer from Tennessee.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Which will be in 2021 or 2022, not 2020.

Freeze knows 2020 is not the best market and it doesn't hurt him at all to have another year of "good behavior" at Liberty, especially when they are paying him $3 mil to do so.

Next year, is going to be a bonanza for Freeze. But he's not leaving this year when the salaries will be suppressed and the options slim.

Good behavior or not, a high profile job is likely to come open this year & HF is going to be on just about everybody’s list. If Auburn elects to move on from Gus do you think their program cares about good behavior?

 

[DiderotsGhost]

OP, I don't understand why you don't hold coaching accountable for the QB play. Pruitt has three QBs on the roster that he recruited. The argument that Chaney needs "his guy" has no merit. If those guys have the talent and work ethic to be granted a scholarship to play football in the SEC, the coaching staff ought to be able to develop them into serviceable players. If they don't have the talent and work ethic, it's still on the coaches because they offered the scholarships. I get that coaches miss on players, but do they get a pass for missing on all three?

So you think Will McBride could've been a Heisman trophy winner if only he had the right coaching?

Shrout was never an SEC-level QB. I said as much when we recruited him. He's always been a project and he's not really a Chaney-type of QB. Even at the time, I was angry that we let Penix go and took Shrout instead (and it's not because I thought Penix was going to be as good as he's become; I just thought he was the better QB prospect of the two). Pruitt deserves the blame for this, but it's 1 mistake, and as far as things go, one of the more excusable mistakes. He wasn't familiar with Penix at the time and mostly went on Helton's word.

Maurer I think can potentially be a good QB, but his accuracy has been an issue thus far. Accuracy is the toughest thing to coach. Indeed, this is first thing Mike Leach says about recruiting QBs; accuracy is the one thing that is difficult to improve.

But here's the thing ... both Shrout and Maurer were recruited by Helton, not Chaney. Does this excuse Pruitt? No.

But remember we fired Phil Fulmer back in 2008, kick-starting 12 years of misery, because he hired the right guy (Clawson) too late and we didn't give him enough time. To be fair, Phil had been hiring "the wrong guys" for most of the previous 10 years, so we were right to be skeptical, but as it turns out, Phil was right on that one; we would've had Tajh Boyd in 2009 and UT football might have actually had a revival.

Chaney knows QBs. Bailey and Salter are Chaney-type QBs. If we can't succeed with one of them, then we know the problem is with Pruitt. But it literally makes no sense to blow everything up right now, just as we finally have 2 potentially elite QBs in 2021. If we do that, Salter is gone; and Bailey might even leave.

We have to see how they do in 2021 before rushing to judgment. I don't think any of this would've ever happened in a non-Covid season to begin with. Pruitt's main hesitancy to play Bailey was the fact that he had virtually no offseason due to Covid.

 

[EZE]

That's probably a best case scenario.

I don't think people realize how bad it's going to get if we fire Pruitt right now. We're not getting Hugh Freeze (who just signed a $3mil extension). It's going to be a Derek Dooley type situation. And as much as people want to convince themselves Pruitt is "worse than Dooley", he's not. Dooley was 1-14 against SEC competition in his last 2 years. Pruitt is 7-10. It's not even a comparison.

Pruitt has failed this year, no doubt, but he's gotten some things very right. Just not the whole QB issue. With a good QB, we're 5-2 and everyone is optimistic.

That's why Pruitt needs another year. Unlike Dooley and Butch, who basically destroyed the program, Pruitt has actually done a good job building the program back up. He's just inexplicably stuck with a very terrible QB this year.

If you compare the talent on Butch’s Year 3 to Pruitt’s current roster, it isn’t close. Butch’s roster by a landslide.

I would like for you to expand on what “Pruitt has done right.” I respectfully just don’t see it.

 

[EZE]

That would be the most UT move ever. Fulmer Fires CJP & goes the cheapest of cheap by hiring Tee. Rip off the band aid, increase the size of the laceration, and put scotch tape on top of the cotton ball. The entire college football world is already laughing at the Vols so make them laugh even louder. Amazed at how low this program has fallen.

No, this would be more like a straight up amputation.

 

[rikberry31]

2018

2019

2020

2021

We pad our classes with more 3* players, while Mullen is steadily bringing in more 4* players, and the gap will only widen in 2021 when the dust settles.

The problem is that Mullen and his staff have proven to be much better at developing players, and even our 4 and 5* players don't seen to be playing up to their recruitment potential under Pruitt.

JG

Oh, cool. Please show your work. Where is this talent similarity on the field?

Fact is Tennessee has not recruited like this since the salad days of CPF.

 

[Lobo71]

View attachment 326899

LOL,this has to be one of the BEST replies ever!!

 

[rikberry31]

Solid post by one of the most solid posters on VN. I'm with this, 100%.

FYI, I don't think JG comes back next year, but even if he does I don't think he sees the field for anything other than mop-up duty.

Go Vols.

There’s no way Tennessee renews JG’s scholarship. The jenius’ on here who don’t understand how things work don’t get that JG can not just decide to comeback. He may grad transfer and play next year but it won’t be at UT.

 

[BeardedVol]

Fact is Tennessee has not recruited like this since the salad days of CPF.

Like what? Middle-of-the-SEC?

 

[rikberry31]

So you think Will McBride could've been a Heisman trophy winner if only he had the right coaching?

Shrout was never an SEC-level QB. I said as much when we recruited him. He's always been a project and he's not really a Chaney-type of QB. Even at the time, I was angry that we let Penix go and took Shrout instead (and it's not because I thought Penix was going to be as good as he's become; I just thought he was the better QB prospect of the two). Pruitt deserves the blame for this, but it's 1 mistake, and as far as things go, one of the more excusable mistakes. He wasn't familiar with Penix at the time and mostly went on Helton's word.

Maurer I think can potentially be a good QB, but his accuracy has been an issue thus far. Accuracy is the toughest thing to coach. Indeed, this is first thing Mike Leach says about recruiting QBs; accuracy is the one thing that is difficult to improve.

But here's the thing ... both Shrout and Maurer were recruited by Helton, not Chaney. Does this excuse Pruitt? No.

But remember we fired Phil Fulmer back in 2008, kick-starting 12 years of misery, because he hired the right guy (Clawson) too late and we didn't give him enough time. To be fair, Phil had been hiring "the wrong guys" for most of the previous 10 years, so we were right to be skeptical, but as it turns out, Phil was right on that one; we would've had Tajh Boyd in 2009 and UT football might have actually had a revival.

Chaney knows QBs. Bailey and Salter are Chaney-type QBs. If we can't succeed with one of them, then we know the problem is with Pruitt. But it literally makes no sense to blow everything up right now, just as we finally have 2 potentially elite QBs in 2021. If we do that, Salter is gone; and Bailey might even leave.

We have to see how they do in 2021 before rushing to judgment. I don't think any of this would've ever happened in a non-Covid season to begin with. Pruitt's main hesitancy to play Bailey was the fact that he had virtually no offseason due to Covid.

Excellent post. Nice that at least one poster on here understand the situation and is living in the real world. Too bad most of the Miserables are too ignorant and delusional to understand a thing your saying.

 

[BeardedVol]

Excellent post. Nice that at least one poster on here understand the situation and is living in the real world. Too bad most of the Miserables are too ignorant and delusional to understand a thing your saying.

You agreeing with him doesn't lend any veracity to his opinions; quite the opposite.

 

[rikberry31]

Like what? Middle-of-the-SEC?

Like top quality SEC in the trench players. All you really know is the recruiting service rankings, I get that. But anyone who has even a little understanding beyond Rivals and 247 can see the difference in the players CJP is bringing in.

 

[rikberry31]

You agreeing with him doesn't lend any veracity to his opinions; quite the opposite.

You disagreeing with him is rock solid proof the he is 100% correct.

 

[BeardedVol]

Like top quality SEC in the trench players. All you really know is the recruiting service rankings, I get that. But anyone who has even a little understanding beyond Rivals and 247 can see the difference in the players CJP is bringing in.

Since when is your recruiting class literally being in the middle of the SEC rankings indicative of "top quality SEC in the trench players"?

When have we seen 'top quality SEC in the trench play' from a Pruitt-coached team?

 

[hog88]

Like top quality SEC in the trench players. All you really know is the recruiting service rankings, I get that. But anyone who has even a little understanding beyond Rivals and 247 can see the difference in the players CJP is bringing in.

Yep, I can see the difference. They are 2-5 with 5 straight double digit blowouts.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

I think the mob mentality has taken over the Fire Pruitt crowd now and rational thinking has gone out the window. Its just get rid of him and damn the consequences, believing that the UT admin will actually hire a top name coach. Agree it would set the program back another 5 yrs. Got to go with Pruitt at least thru next season.

 

[BeardedVol]

I think the mob mentality has taken over the Fire Pruitt crowd now and rational thinking has gone out the window. Its just get rid of him and damn the consequences, believing that the UT admin will actually hire a top name coach. Agree it would set the program back another 5 yrs. Got to go with Pruitt at least thru next season.

Where does one apply to become a member of this "mob" that has the power to fire the HC at UT?