This is a great question and the reality is you really can’t get an answer, just an opinion. Some people “realized” Butch wasn’t good early, but I think a lot of it is fools good. Some folks got lucky and honestly I’m sure were able to realize it sooner than others, but anyone telling you they know Pruitt is going to be a great coach or not is like someone calling a stock pick. Sure everyone might talk about that stock pick they nailed, or that they bet that one game and it was so obvious, but more often than not they’re wrong and if they weren’t, they’d be filthy rich.
So all I can offer you is one man’s opinion. I will admit that I bought into Butch a bit longer than some did, and I think it’s directly reflected in me being a loyal Vol fan and “wanting“ success. That said, and certainly in hindsight, I think there were some warning signs with Butch. 1) He nor his staff seemed to recruit with a significant purpose in mind, but rather just on highly rated players. Further, he seemed to focus more on skill players. 2) He seemed to not take ownership of the program and rather was uber defensive and sensitive if there was ever negativity. I think that was a sign that he was a bit of a chameleon, a yes-man, and did not hold himself or others around him accountable. There was never self-reflection and looking to improve, but rather defensiveness and looking excuse. We saw some of that leak out but a lot of us didn’t want to believe it.
As to Pruitt, several things stand out to me that demonstrate that I think he’s an incredibly good football coach and make me hopeful that we’ll have some long term success. While there are many more, here are just 2-3 in depth reasons, in no particular order:
1) He definitely recruits with a purpose. He wants big linemen on both sides, he wants big backs, he wants big DBs, etc. Everyone wants big and fast, but I think if Pruitt has to sacrifice one vs the other, he‘s going to take the big, athletic, but not as fast guy Vs the super athletic fast, but not so big guy. It’s a line of scrimmage league (or at least it was) and we’ve seen Stoops turn UK around this way and Pittman already at Arkansas has them looking up. Sat was a perfect example. Many folks are so angry that we lost so their hot take talks about JG being a terrible QB, but while there were mistakes at QB for sure, their front 7 manhandled our Oline/RBs all game long and that’s where the game was lost. Pruitt knows this, knew it before the game and knows it after, and he’s prioritizing that appropriately and has been since he took over this team. Regardless of how bad our lines played on Sat (and I think our O line is much better than what happened, and honestly our D line play wasn’t so bad), we have improved mightily on both sides of the ball here since Pruitt took over. This might not make him a winner, but not prioritizing it will definitely make one a loser in this league (see Butch and Dooley). Fulmer was a master at this, among many other things. Even though the game has changed, dominate the lines and all other things become easier and can mask mistakes.
2) He’s accountable. We got our arse handed to us in the second half (and really the first half too at UGA, it’s just the scoreboard didn’t reflect it due to 1 UGA gift of 7 points and then Kirby being a huge dumbass and going for it on 4th and short on their side of field...we were clearly outmatched so that’s a perfect play for an underdog, but he darn near gifted us 14 points in the first half). Anyway, why did UGA win...they just have better players, particularly their D line vs our O line. But while Pruitt called out our players a bit here and there, he owned up to it being on the coaching staff a lot. Which while it’s honorable, there’s only so much a staff can do when outclassed physically like we were. But he still made a point to say even if we had a great call, and the players didn’t execute, then that’s on them as a staff b/c they’re responsible for it. What that tells me is he’s genuine and he’s players are almost exclusively going to have a guy’s back that talks like that. It won’t guarantee wins, but it’ll guarantee mostly getting max effort out of players. It’s easy to see why he’s so good on the recruiting trail.
3) Nothing further, your honor. Actually, I have one more thing which will eventually lead to a point. I will just again speak about our QB play, because I see so much hand-wringing about Pruitt being stubborn or something with JG. First off, we’ll have to agree to disagree that putting anyone at QB behind our line on Sat was going to end up in disaster, but let’s even just concede and say that we lost because of JG (which is ludicrous by the way). If there is any criticism one wants to make about Pruitt, being conservative or scared of something or too stubborn to do something has to be one of the most ill-informed opinions out there. The guy has gone for it on 4th down inside his own 50 too many times to count (I think he did this right off the bat in the UGA game). He calls onsides kicks more than many of our last several coaches combined. He freaking benched JG half of last year for Pete’s sake. If JG is playing, it’s clearly because Pruitt rightly feels JG gives us the best chance to win regardless of what any frustrated Vol fan wants to tell themselves about an on the road loss to #3. JG is a good QB who has definitely improved over his tenure year, but he’s certainly still mistake prone. “We” put him in some terrible positions on Sat and several times he crumbled under the pressure, but the law of averages make that not a surprise nor would anyone back there on our current roster likely make a difference. I will say that while this is a LOS league, it’s no secret that the QB is the most valuable player on a football team. Poor play there will offset a lot of other good just like elite QB play can mask a lot of bad. So that said, Pruitt is using who he thinks is best right now, and my suspicion is that likely won’t change over the next several weeks. In a year with no spring ball, limited fall camp, tons of players out, etc., it should surprise no one that our best option is our most experienced guy. Maybe after the bye week they’ll feel differently once Shrout and/or HB have been given some more reps. Or alternatively, maybe after UGA and Bama are off the schedule, JG will continue to lead us to W’s as our Oline play better protects and we‘re more balanced with a more respectable run game.
Either way, and here’s my point #3, what I know for certain is if any head coach of the Vols started changing the QB ”just because what else have we got to lose” or b/c a bunch of fans/media started pressuring him to do so, then I’d chalk that guy up to not going to be a very successful head coach. Pruitt seems like he’s got the personality that he’s gonna do what he thinks is the right thing to do, to hell with the fans and anyone else & right or wrong, that’s exactly what you want in a coach. I’d guess Jones was the complete opposite of that way, perseverating about how this is gonna look or how people are gonna react to that. Hell Coach Pruitt doesn’t even speak with correct grammar.
I don’t think anyone can necessarily say Pruitt is gonna win here, but I’d say odds are more in his favor based on our trend so far, and I certainly don’t see lots of warning signs like with some of our previous regimes. Look at who has been dominating this league recently. Saban, Smart, etc. not the Mike Leach, Butch Jones types. I’m gonna bet the over at this point still, as I like where we’re headed, but I don’t think we’ll truly know with confidence for another year or so. I really think win or lose, this year is kind of a wash. So flukey with opt-outs, contact traces limitations, practice limitations, etc. it’s going to be somewhat hard to just look at W/Ls for most teams this year and truly trend their trajectory. My looong 2 cents...
