Good question and I don’t know how closely he was involved with calling plays. One thing I do recall: Remember the Vandy game his first year when they beat us badly at their place? It was something like 38-14 and they just torched our defense. At some point after the game Pruitt was asked about the defense and he said this: “We called the same plays last year at Alabama that we did tonight and won 50-0. That should tell you what you need to know”. Pruitt was not a good head coach but on multiple occasions he commented publicly on how we needed better players. He shouldn’t have said that publicly but he was probably right. I’m afraid we’re in a similar position now.
We had K.Steele here and Garner had been coaching under him for several years at Auburn. We'd already paid him a years salary presumably to be HC. Was that a blunder by our AD ? Bare in mind that TJ Durkin left Ole Miss for T A&M and a bunch of 5* talent. It takes both time and talent to develop a good defense. J.Banks anchors our D and his absence Sat. nite had more of an impact on our defense than many realize. He relayed the defensive signals to other players. I feel UT simply didn't have a good back-up signal caller.
Cornerback is the most athletic position in the game of football period. Very demanding both mentally and physically. A.Taylor come to UT as a receiver but spent his entire career at CB. UT did not replace Taylor and Jackson with athletic players. These 2023 recruits appear to be a good class for the defense but I can't help but think that we could get a coach who can develop our secondary players a lot better than what we currently have.
I think they play off and lay back because the coaches know they're not fast enough. Still doesn't seem to be helping clearly. Not sure what else they can do outside of getting better players? They can change the coaches I guess, but that still means a another year or two before we all feel like we have a good defense, in my opinion anyway. I think they could probably find some more immediate help in the transfer portal, but I also coach from my couch on Saturdays.
CJP has a lot of problems as a coach and (like all of us) as a person. But he is a dang good defensive coach. He just never needs to be the head coach anywhere.
CJP has a lot of problems as a coach and (like all of us) as a person. But he is a dang good defensive coach. He just never needs to be the head coach anywhere.
That said, there is almost no chance he would want to come back or that we would take him if he did.
But the question is as who was the best one available
. The toughest for me is finding nice things to say about Butch. That is a work in progress for me 
