UT Coaching Contracts

[BigOrangeMojo]

We gave a multi-year contract extension to a coach with no leverage.

An unproven coach (Pruitt) is the only SEC coach without offset language

We gave a pay raise to a 13-12 coach coming off the year that he lost to Georgia F'ing State

There is less buyout reciprocity in Pruitt's contract than the rest of the league

 

[orangerush]

We gave a multi-year contract extension to a coach with no leverage.

An unproven coach (Pruitt) is the only SEC coach without offset language

We gave a pay raise to a 13-12 coach coming off the year that he lost to Georgia F'ing State

There is less buyout reciprocity in Pruitt's contract than the rest of the league

Anywhere else it’s called incompetence.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

That’s true, another power 5 school was after Pruitt to my knowledge. However, everyone rejected us after the Schoano fiasco. Fulmer was hired and had to find a coach quickly for recruiting.

I was hoping Pruitt was the guy, just like I did with Dooley and Butch. I don’t know the answer and how to get to the point where UT is an elite job for elite coaches.

No Power 5 school or D1, D2, or D3 school was after Pruitt when we hired him.

He had no leverage but the terms (not the $$$) of his contract was the most favorable in the SEC.

Anyone wanna know how many P5 coaches have at least a 60% buyout with no offset provisions? 1, Jeremy Pruitt. Jimmy Sexton has 11 SEC coaches under his umbrella and he cant get that anywhere else.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

When you talk about all the coaches you can’t hire, yes you are bankrupt. No decent program tolerates the ineptness that is going on now if they have the ability to fix it. We do not have the financial abilities to fix it.

The only coaches we can’t hire is Meyer and Stoops. Neither one has anything to do with money. We have the money. What we don’t have is the right leadership in the highest positions.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

No Power 5 school or D1, D2, or D3 school was after Pruitt when we hired him.

He had no leverage but the terms (not the $$$) of his contract was the most favorable in the SEC.

Anyone wanna know how many P5 coaches have at least a 60% buyout with no offset provisions? 1, Jeremy Pruitt. Jimmy Sexton has 11 SEC coaches under his umbrella and he cant get that anywhere else.

Um how do you know no other school was after Pruitt?

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Um how do you know no other school was after Pruitt?

Because Jimmy Sexton is his agent and he is great at getting attention for his clients(even when none exists). That and we were the last major program to hire due to our F'ed up hiring process that year.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Correction, our AD is too stupid to offer it.

We have offered Big contracts to really good coaches in the past and Majors was the only one who agreed to come to Knoxville. The economic phrase of "Supply and Demand" sets the price for athletic coaches and players contracts, especially in college and pros. All this contract mess started when our economic minded started trying g to save money and negotiated contracts which really good coaches would not accept. Majors was the last coach we hired who had proven he could coach at the National Championship level and it took him 5-6 years to become a consistent winner here in Knoxville. Fulmer was able to continue the winning ways and was one of the top coaches in the Country and he got his first and only head coaching job at Tennessee so we know that that approach can be successful at Tennessee. The problem is, we have not itch was a successful coach at three different non SEC schools. Butch was OK a the Exes and Os but failed at managing football programs. Learning on the job has not yet been successful here. I think Pruitt had, and probably still does have , the background to be a successful Coach in the SEC. I am convinced that he can identify high school talent, but it is yet to be determined if he can hire assistant coaches who can mold players into a powerhouse football program. He hasn't been very "lucky" in his three years at Tennessee. His first recruiting class was mostly players Butch had recruited and they were not of the same caliber as his four previous classes. Pruitt's first class were players which he recruited and it was a pretty good class. His class last year was his best but that class never had the opportunity to go through Spring practice and many missed a large portion of Fall practice and even miss a large part of in season practice because of COVID.

I don't think Tennessee can afford to fire Pruitt and his coaching staff because of the amount of money Tennessee has paid out to previous coaching staffs after they have bee fired. Another reason why funds are available is the practice which the Athletic Department Paid ( gave) 6-8 million $$$/ year to the non athletic areas of the University. If they had been allowed to keep their revenues, the Athletic surplus would be close to $100 million, and we would have been in position to pay top dollar to any of the coaches we wanted. However, we argot in that position and are likely not to be in that position for the next few years. We may never be in that position if we continue to hire and fire new coaches every 3-5 years.

 

[lilesrt]

The difficult thing about contracts is that you have to get both sides to agree.

True. Make a fair offer which includes incentive pay. If coaches walk, let them. Hire the coach that wants to earn his pay. We’re losing either way, at least we won’t overpay to lose, which we’re doing right now.

 

[BSAvol]

Tie Fulmer's compensation to Pruitt's performance. So far I can not see any accountability that Fulmer expects of Pruitt, but he would if his own income were impacted by losses.

 

[vol94]

No Power 5 school or D1, D2, or D3 school was after Pruitt when we hired him.

He had no leverage but the terms (not the $$$) of his contract was the most favorable in the SEC.

Anyone wanna know how many P5 coaches have at least a 60% buyout with no offset provisions? 1, Jeremy Pruitt. Jimmy Sexton has 11 SEC coaches under his umbrella and he cant get that anywhere else.

I agree we settled and the extension along w buyout is ridiculous. I probably didn’t articulate my point clearly in that Fulmer and UT powers to be panicked. We were the laughing stock on all sports channels, social media, etc. It was bad situation and I think Fulmer tried to find someone w a defensive background (coordinator) who would say
yes to the offer. Just my opinion. I agree w your post 100%.

 

[njvols]

This is the part that really needs to be rethought.

The idea that recruits and general public don't know that a coach is on the hot seat just because he has 3 years left on his deal is absurd. Anyone considering signing with Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, etc., knows the coach is in trouble.

So, if you think that the extension fools people, especially since we all know these guys can and have been fired, it’s absurd.

Stop giving people extensions when there are 3 years left on a deal.

It's a Tennessee Tradition...we don't know what to do if we're not paying a coach not to coach at UT. Feb 28, 2021 (Butch's final paycheck) is coming up fast and we had to do SOMETHING.

 

[TommyJoe]

Ok. See how that works for you. Good coaches set the rules, not the university.

There are maybe 6-8 college head coaches that you could say that would be true and if recruiting one of those, that is the way it should be approached. For the rest, if they don't like it, tell them to get lost and move on down the list.