Tennessee Vols: Why Jeremy Pruitt's transparency matters more than you might think
Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt has went out of his way during his two years on Rocky Top to make sure folks know he's honest when it comes to his recruiting pitches. Pruitt regularly comments publicly about not playing a player at a position they don't want to play. It's also not unusual to […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt has went out of his way during his two years on Rocky Top to make sure folks know he's honest when it comes to his recruiting pitches.
Pruitt regularly comments publicly about not playing a player at a position they don't want to play.
It's also not unusual to hear Vol commits/recruiting targets comment on how Pruitt and his staff are transparent about how they envision using players at Tennessee.
This might not seem like a big deal, but it's actually extremely important when it comes to recruiting.
Recruits want to trust their potential head coaches. And if they can't trust them, they'll sign somewhere else.
During the recruiting process, players can only learn so much about the coach they might be playing for. One way they can make a judgement on whether or not to trust a coach is to look at how they've handled situations in the past.
Fortunately for Tennessee, Pruitt has quickly gained a reputation for being a head coach that players can trust.
This isn't the case everywhere.
Recently hired Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz has been on the job for less than a month and he's already gaining a reputation as a coach that can't be trusted.
Three-star running back Dominique Johnson flipped from Missouri to Arkansas on Wednesday after he was apparently lied to by Drinkwitz during his final recruiting trip before the early signing period.
That's a terrible look and will absolutely hurt Missouri in recruiting in the future. It's hard to recover from something like that.
Coaches might be able to deceive recruits for a recruiting class or two, but eventually the whole charade will fall apart.
Just ask former Vols head coach Butch Jones.
Featured image via Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
