Former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt lands near the top of a list he definitely doesn't want to be on
Jeremy Pruitt lost his job as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols in early 2021 due to a recruiting scandal that involved him allegedly handing out over $60,000 in impermissible benefits. Pruitt went 16-19 during his three seasons as the head coach at Tennessee (11 of those wins have since been vacated). As a […]
Jeremy Pruitt lost his job as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols in early 2021 due to a recruiting scandal that involved him allegedly handing out over $60,000 in impermissible benefits.
Pruitt went 16-19 during his three seasons as the head coach at Tennessee (11 of those wins have since been vacated).
As a result of the way that Pruitt's time at Tennessee ended, CBS Sports recently ranked the Alabama native as the No. 5 worst head coach hire of the last decade.
From CBS Sports: Pruitt, who coached under the likes of Jimbo Fisher, Mark Richt and Nick Saban, was one of the best defensive coordinators of the past decade. It seemed like a matter of time before he earned a power-conference job. Tennessee made that a reality in 2018, tabbing him as the team's leader after a bungled coaching search. That, in itself, is a story for another time.
His real legacy lies in the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations that led to his firing for cause following a 3-7 2020 campaign. The NCAA Committee on Infractions found the Pruitt's program responsible for more than 200 individual violations, including 18 Level I in nature. All of his wins from 2019-20 were vacated, and Tennessee was hit with a scholarship reduction that hindered new coach Josh Heupel until recently — plus an $8 million fine. Pruitt will likely never coach college football again. Given what he left Heupel, it's a miracle that he has won 37 games in four years.
There's no doubt that the Pruitt era on Rocky Top was disappointing. But I think Pruitt catches a little more heat than he deserves. For starters, the recruiting scandal — which, again, included around $60,000 in impermissible benefits — looks like a big nothing burger compared to what programs are handing out to players in the NIL era.
Secondly, the only reason that Pruitt landed the job in late 2017 was because Tennessee had arguably the worst coaching search of all time. Tennessee hired (and then unhired) Greg Schiano, leading to a fan revolt, and athletic director John Currie was fired for going rogue and meeting with Mike Leach in California (which happened after Currie planned to hire Dave Doeren….Currie later ghosted Doeren). And those are just the highlights of a wild coaching search that is still referenced weekly in SEC country.
Pruitt entered a situation, as a first-time head coach (with a first-time athletic director in Phillip Fulmer), that was in total disarray. There was no alignment or longterm vision within the UT athletic department at the time. It was a no-win situation. So maybe we should give Pruitt a little slack. He's a great X's and O's guy, he just didn't have the experience that was needed to navigate a disastrous situation.
