The difference in mentality between Jeremy Pruitt and Butch Jones

#30
#30
The difference in mentality between Jeremy Pruitt and Butch Jones is striking



During his time at Tennessee, Jones was thrilled to get to get to nine wins and a bowl game. So when things started going south, Jones pointed to his 2015 and 2016 nine win seasons as some of the best years of Tennessee football in recent memory.

“We have a lot of great things going on right now,” Jones said in an interview with Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone. “We’re experiencing the last three years — the last two years have been some of the best years in the last 20 years of Tennessee football.”

Of course, at the time, Tennessee had won a national championship in that 20 year span, making his comments particularly laughable. Also at the time, Tennessee had just wasted a loaded roster which was fulling capable of winning the division. Jones was fired a year later after putting together the worst season in Tennessee football history.

Fast forward to Jeremy Pruitt, who is coming off of an 8-5 season in 2019 — in the midst of rebuilding from ground zero after Jones was fired. It was a huge positive development, especially after the losses to Georgia State and BYU.

Difference is, Pruitt isn’t giving anybody a chance to be satisfied.

“I would say for everybody that’s associated with Tennessee, we need to raise our expectations,” Pruitt said on Thursday night at a signing day event. “And I know everybody’s excited we went 8-5 and finished the year the right way. But we’ve got to raise our expectations as a program, as a fan base, because the people we’re competing against, they’ve been trying to kick us while we’ve been down, right? We’ve been kicked around a little bit. It’s time for us to start doing a little bit of kicking ourselves.”


The biggest difference is Butch was a salesman and Pruitt is a coach. It's so nice to have a HC that doesn't speak like a politician.


I'll add that Jones did things that poisoned the team. He'll never coach in the next 10 years in D-1 football.
 
#32
#32
jp is old school, and that's good as I see it. and I would imagine if he could get away with it in these times that he would be as hard on his players as bear Bryant was back in the day.

That would be wrong. He was smart enough to get millions from Tenn.
 
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#35
#35
The difference in mentality between Jeremy Pruitt and Butch Jones is striking



During his time at Tennessee, Jones was thrilled to get to get to nine wins and a bowl game. So when things started going south, Jones pointed to his 2015 and 2016 nine win seasons as some of the best years of Tennessee football in recent memory.

“We have a lot of great things going on right now,” Jones said in an interview with Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone. “We’re experiencing the last three years — the last two years have been some of the best years in the last 20 years of Tennessee football.”

Of course, at the time, Tennessee had won a national championship in that 20 year span, making his comments particularly laughable. Also at the time, Tennessee had just wasted a loaded roster which was fulling capable of winning the division. Jones was fired a year later after putting together the worst season in Tennessee football history.

Fast forward to Jeremy Pruitt, who is coming off of an 8-5 season in 2019 — in the midst of rebuilding from ground zero after Jones was fired. It was a huge positive development, especially after the losses to Georgia State and BYU.

Difference is, Pruitt isn’t giving anybody a chance to be satisfied.

“I would say for everybody that’s associated with Tennessee, we need to raise our expectations,” Pruitt said on Thursday night at a signing day event. “And I know everybody’s excited we went 8-5 and finished the year the right way. But we’ve got to raise our expectations as a program, as a fan base, because the people we’re competing against, they’ve been trying to kick us while we’ve been down, right? We’ve been kicked around a little bit. It’s time for us to start doing a little bit of kicking ourselves.”


The biggest difference is Butch was a salesman and Pruitt is a coach. It's so nice to have a HC that doesn't speak like a politician.
A-freakin-men!!
 
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#36
#36
Idk, don’t kill me for saying this but I don’t think Hurd makes it under Pruitt. I think they’d knock heads faster than CBJ did
Not sure honestly. Pruitt seems to listen to his players and will play them where they fit.. Too bad we can't find out!
 
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#37
#37
The difference in mentality between Jeremy Pruitt and Butch Jones is striking



During his time at Tennessee, Jones was thrilled to get to get to nine wins and a bowl game. So when things started going south, Jones pointed to his 2015 and 2016 nine win seasons as some of the best years of Tennessee football in recent memory.

“We have a lot of great things going on right now,” Jones said in an interview with Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone. “We’re experiencing the last three years — the last two years have been some of the best years in the last 20 years of Tennessee football.”

Of course, at the time, Tennessee had won a national championship in that 20 year span, making his comments particularly laughable. Also at the time, Tennessee had just wasted a loaded roster which was fulling capable of winning the division. Jones was fired a year later after putting together the worst season in Tennessee football history.

Fast forward to Jeremy Pruitt, who is coming off of an 8-5 season in 2019 — in the midst of rebuilding from ground zero after Jones was fired. It was a huge positive development, especially after the losses to Georgia State and BYU.

Difference is, Pruitt isn’t giving anybody a chance to be satisfied.

“I would say for everybody that’s associated with Tennessee, we need to raise our expectations,” Pruitt said on Thursday night at a signing day event. “And I know everybody’s excited we went 8-5 and finished the year the right way. But we’ve got to raise our expectations as a program, as a fan base, because the people we’re competing against, they’ve been trying to kick us while we’ve been down, right? We’ve been kicked around a little bit. It’s time for us to start doing a little bit of kicking ourselves.”


The biggest difference is Butch was a salesman and Pruitt is a coach. It's so nice to have a HC that doesn't speak like a politician.

I remember that quote from Butch and it made me mad that he was devaluing the UT brand by saying we should be excited about mediocrity. He also clearly didn’t know anything about our history because 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 were well within 20 years at the time and I think those seasons were at least as good if not better.
 
#39
#39
Yeah, the attitude is great. He Never wavered when things were going bad and was even bold enough to say that he thought they were a good team. The confidence will rub off on the staff and players as time goes on.
 
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#40
#40
I remember that quote from Butch and it made me mad that he was devaluing the UT brand by saying we should be excited about mediocrity. He also clearly didn’t know anything about our history because 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 were well within 20 years at the time and I think those seasons were at least as good if not better.

Whoops forgot the most important being the 98 Natty after reading the article. Make his claim that much more ridiculous.
 
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#41
#41
I also didn’t like the fact that he seemed to think we should be impressed with all of his alliances and staff from Michigan. Who cares about Central Michigan or that inferior Big 10 school. I’m not saying that our coach has to be a Southerner, but Pruitt certainly gets the SEC and the fact that we play in the elite conference. He also understands our traditions and history better. He played for Bama when we beat them badly and as he said in his first speech “this place (UT) used to be FEARED by everyone”. Or something close to that.
 
#42
#42
We should win 10 or even 11 games next season with no problem, because Pruitt is so much better than Butch -- and Butch won 9 games in his 3rd season. So Pruitt will definitely top that. And since Pruitt is such a huge improvement, he won't drop-off like Butch did. 10+ wins will be the norm from here on out. I'm looking forward to it.
 
#43
#43
Im essentially going to agree with Pruitt and say that I am nowhere near satisfied with what he’s been able to do this far. I’m happy to hear that he at least is willing to accept and embrace the pressure of this program instead of spew excuses and irrelevant obscure facts. Because the UT fan base deserves far better than the crap we have been fed for the past 2 decades as a direct consequence of incompetent leadership. It seems like Pruitt has little use or time for BS.

But, IMO talk is talk, whether that be like a used car salesmen or speech invoking of Bear Bryant. Truth is Butch and Pruitt have had very similar records 2 years in. Both have put together nice recruiting classes on paper. I know it’s not apples to apples comparison, and I like Pruitt better than Butch as a person ... but at some point I just have to see the on the field results.

We have been in the outhouse for too long, but I will always believe we should beat USCjr, UK, Missouri and Vandy without Much effort every year, those are historically garbage programs. Those wins should go without saying. Losing 3 in a row to Vandy or the cocks is flat out unacceptable.

I don’t even know who the starting Qb will be next year, there’s a lot to be settled, but Pruitt has got to take advantage of some upcoming opportunities and make the next level leap (something Butch never really did). Next year it is all there for the taking starting with a winnable game in Norman (yeah I said it).

Let’s win some games that matter when the spotlight is on us, and get this perception rolling into reality! Until then, whether it’s Butchisms or Pruittisms we can’t simply speak relevance into existence.
 
#44
#44
CP worries about winning football games and recruiting good players. butch worried about marketing slogans, gimmicks, and promoting himself as the next big thing ( I still can't believe the powers that be allowed that guy to put his face on the back of the scoreboard overlooking the river)

But for those that still quietly have a soft spot for ol' lyle I'll throw you a bone and say that the only thing that I wish we would continue, which happened under butch's watch, is checkered Neyland . Seeing Neyland Stadium like that, IMO, was pretty dang awesome!
 
#45
#45
Jones wanted to win a few games, collect a check and have people tell him how great a coach he was. Pruitt legitimately wants to beat the hell out of the other team. Jones never got the SEC, he never understood the passion or the stakes. In recruiting and coaching he was always more interested in looking good than being good.
 
#47
#47
The difference in mentality between Jeremy Pruitt and Butch Jones is striking



During his time at Tennessee, Jones was thrilled to get to get to nine wins and a bowl game. So when things started going south, Jones pointed to his 2015 and 2016 nine win seasons as some of the best years of Tennessee football in recent memory.

“We have a lot of great things going on right now,” Jones said in an interview with Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone. “We’re experiencing the last three years — the last two years have been some of the best years in the last 20 years of Tennessee football.”

Of course, at the time, Tennessee had won a national championship in that 20 year span, making his comments particularly laughable. Also at the time, Tennessee had just wasted a loaded roster which was fulling capable of winning the division. Jones was fired a year later after putting together the worst season in Tennessee football history.

Fast forward to Jeremy Pruitt, who is coming off of an 8-5 season in 2019 — in the midst of rebuilding from ground zero after Jones was fired. It was a huge positive development, especially after the losses to Georgia State and BYU.

Difference is, Pruitt isn’t giving anybody a chance to be satisfied.

“I would say for everybody that’s associated with Tennessee, we need to raise our expectations,” Pruitt said on Thursday night at a signing day event. “And I know everybody’s excited we went 8-5 and finished the year the right way. But we’ve got to raise our expectations as a program, as a fan base, because the people we’re competing against, they’ve been trying to kick us while we’ve been down, right? We’ve been kicked around a little bit. It’s time for us to start doing a little bit of kicking ourselves.”


The biggest difference is Butch was a salesman and Pruitt is a coach. It's so nice to have a HC that doesn't speak like a politician.
Thank you for posting this. I had not read Pruitt's comments prior to you posting them, and this is without a doubt one of the fundamental aspects of coaching that went missing with Dooley and Jones, both of whom were consummate excuse-makers from the days they were hired until the days they were fired. This year ended great, and there is more reason for optimism than there has been in at least a decade; I'm not yet ready to anoint Pruitt, just because no coach should be anointed here until he is competing yearly for the SEC; but the simple fact of having high expectations is essential to success in football or any other endeavor, and we were missing it for a long time, so it's heartening to see it now.
 
#49
#49
Jeremy Pruitt is a tough head coach while Butch Jones is a soft lying used car dealer in my opinion:rolleyes:
I'll never forget hearing on a Nashville sports talk show how Botch was giving upper-classmen the choice of whether to practice or not on certain days of the week. I was yelling at my radio because I was beside myself that a D-1 football coach could be that unfathomably incompetent.
 

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