The reality if we were to fire Pruitt.

[DaddyChad]

The problem here is if you were to make a change there are several problems:
1)Most likely the man most responsible for the downfall of our program chooses the next HC. You know the guy that hired Kiffin, Dooley, Jones, tried to hire Schiano. Fulmer should get more time but he won't. UT could hire an AD that's not a yes man to Haslam but it won't. We would hire some mid major, up and comer with a mediocre record.
2)Tennessee has become a less attractive job each year. Honestly is the national perception of Tennessee any better than it was when we hired Kiffin, Dooley, Jones, or Pruitt? Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Texas AM, LSU, etc have become better programs over this stretch and have become bigger thorns in our side as far as recruiting as well.

I'm not saying I believe Pruitt is going to be this elite coach, hell IDK if he'll even be a mediocre head coach. All I'm saying is that people should want to give him time unless you're itching to have another mid major coach selected by Haslam.

 

[BigBadVol]

I think we need to give Pruitt 3 years! This crap of looking for the perfect coach is going keep us at the bottom forever.

 

[1972 Grad]

I think we need to give Pruitt 3 years! This crap of looking for the perfect coach is going keep us at the bottom forever.

Unfortunately, it may take 4 or 5, or maybe more to build depth with the type of players that a coach wants. A really good program needs some upper class depth.

 

[Pride85]

3 years if most of the former regime's players can be salvaged, four (4) years to prove he can do it with his players alone.

 

[sbm362]

Unfortunately, it may take 4 or 5, or maybe more to build depth with the type of players that a coach wants. A really good program needs some upper class depth.

Exactly.

 

[CAVPUT]

All that's being discussed is the loss and firing a coach one game into his second year. Should do wonders for recruiting.

 

[coffeevol]

Hell give him 6 years, tired of the revolving door. I find myself going to watch MTSU games more often these days as it is a more fun product to watch and a hell of a lot cheaper. Still love the vols but it has been a heartbreaking decade

 

[bpalmer28]

I think we need to give Pruitt 3 years! This crap of looking for the perfect coach is going keep us at the bottom forever.

3 years MINIMUM.

I've gone on record with this, but I'll say it again. I like Pruitt. I still think he's a good coach and I still think he can turn this program around.

Saturday sucked. There's no excuse for losing to Georgia State and Pruitt is ultimately responsible for that. There's really no positives to be taken from that game. It was a bad look and our performance wasn't a good sign for the future, but I still think Pruitt can win here. Maybe I'm gullible and just WANT him to succeed to bad that I believe he will... or maybe Saturday's game was a fluke and we see a different team Saturday night.

 

[Memphisvol87]

This argument is great if we go 5-7, but after the way we showed up at GA state, nobody has a clue if we rebound to make a bowl or lose every game at this point. The fire Pruitt talk wouldn’t even be remotely around if we had beaten GA state. If Pruitt loses the year and wins less than 5 I don’t understand why keeping him helps anything other than every other SEC we play.

 

[lilesrt]

The problem here is if you were to make a change there are several problems:
1)Most likely the man most responsible for the downfall of our program chooses the next HC. You know the guy that hired Kiffin, Dooley, Jones, tried to hire Schiano. Fulmer should get more time but he won't. UT could hire an AD that's not a yes man to Haslam but it won't. We would hire some mid major, up and comer with a mediocre record.
2)Tennessee has become a less attractive job each year. Honestly is the national perception of Tennessee any better than it was when we hired Kiffin, Dooley, Jones, or Pruitt? Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Texas AM, LSU, etc have become better programs over this stretch and have become bigger thorns in our side as far as recruiting as well.

I'm not saying I believe Pruitt is going to be this elite coach, hell IDK if he'll even be a mediocre head coach. All I'm saying is that people should want to give him time unless you're itching to have another mid major coach selected by Haslam.

Our problem is lack of talent. Not lack of coaching. Our coaching staff is as accomplished as any in the SEC. We need players.

 

[DaddyChad]

This argument is great if we go 5-7, but after the way we showed up at GA state, nobody has a clue if we rebound to make a bowl or lose every game at this point. The fire Pruitt talk wouldn’t even be remotely around if we had beaten GA state. If Pruitt loses the year and wins less than 5 I don’t understand why keeping him helps anything other than every other SEC we play.

Helps keep Haslam from hiring another coach.

 

[Behr]

All that's being discussed is the loss and firing a coach one game into his second year. Should do wonders for recruiting.

Mell of a Hess. If we look bad and lose to BYU it won't matter what happens against Chat. really. We'll get waxed until UAB and might get it from them too. That won't be any better for recruiting.

 

[VolArmy74]

Our issues stem from hiring bad coaches and keeping bad coaches too long, not from firing them. But there's no way Pruitt will be fired after this year unless he throws out a 2-10 and maybe not then. Does he deserve to be fired? Yes, he should have been fired the day after GS like Arkansas did with Jack Crowe the day after Citadel. He didn't deserve to be hired, thus we are still mired in the cycle of mediocrity for a while longer. But it's ridiculous to postulate that things might get bad if he was fired. We just had the 4th worst loss in CFB history, the stadium regularly has 20,000 empty seats, and we are struggling to find a scenario where we get to 4 wins on the year.

 

[Glocker_Alum_2005]

I think it depends on how the team looks. If they continue to look listless through the rest of the season, then you gotta cut bait if we go say 2-10 and no SEC wins, if they show max effort and still only win 3, then he stays.

 

[gisman]

Our problem is lack of talent. Not lack of coaching. Our coaching staff is as accomplished as any in the SEC. We need players.

Then what happened last Saturday? I keep hearing that we don't have enough talent, but we get a large number of 4 star players every year, yet we have less talent than a team that is composed of mostly unrated players? Seems a stretch. Honestly same with Missouri, Candy, and Kentucky. Does winning at Tennessee require more talent than every other school? Apparently so...

 

[BeardedVol]

While he will most likely get 4 years regardless, I doubt that we'll see benefit of keeping a coach who can't determine a starting oline before the first game, and after a humiliating loss to Georgia State spends the second week of the season in practice swapping players between offense and defense.

 

[Volunteer Boy]

Mell of a Hess. If we look bad and lose to BYU it won't matter what happens against Chat. really. We'll get waxed until UAB and might get it from them too. That won't be any better for recruiting.

Hate to tell you , but UAB is undefeated so far this year .

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Fulmer was the not AD when Kiffin, Dooley, Jones were hired and when the Schciano fiasco happened.

 

[HooahVol]

As I am calming down some I agree we have to give Pruitt time, we have no other option. As I stated on the other thread Saban lost to UL-Monroe and Smart came within 2 points of losing to Nicholls State in his home opener at UGA in a very ugly game. Ugly losses/near losses early seem to run in the Saban coaching tree. For now I am hanging my hat on that.

 

[VolArmy74]

Our problem is lack of talent. Not lack of coaching. Our coaching staff is as accomplished as any in the SEC. We need players.

We are currently playing with our 5th year seniors, with 5 consecutive top 20 recruiting classes. But we didn't have enough talent to beat Georgia State whose last 5 classes are 125th, 127th, 105th, 95th, and 98th.

 

[lilesrt]

Then what happened last Saturday? I keep hearing that we don't have enough talent, but we get a large number of 4 star players every year, yet we have less talent than a team that is composed of mostly unrated players? Seems a stretch. Honestly same with Missouri, Candy, and Kentucky. Does winning at Tennessee require more talent than every other school? Apparently so...

Good point.

 

[lilesrt]

We are currently playing with our 5th year seniors, with 5 consecutive top 20 recruiting classes. But we didn't have enough talent to beat Georgia State whose last 5 classes are 125th, 127th, 105th, 95th, and 98th.

Experience plays a factor as well.

 

[DaddyChad]

We are currently playing with our 5th year seniors, with 5 consecutive top 20 recruiting classes. But we didn't have enough talent to beat Georgia State whose last 5 classes are 125th, 127th, 105th, 95th, and 98th.

Doesn’t matter how much talent you have if they don’t give a damn about playing.

 

[hog88]

I think we need to give Pruitt 3 years! This crap of looking for the perfect coach is going keep us at the bottom forever.

LOL

When have we ever looked for the perfect coach?

 

[hog88]

Our problem is lack of talent. Not lack of coaching. Our coaching staff is as accomplished as any in the SEC. We need players.

Not enough talent to beat GA State?