Atlanta — Jeremy Pruitt knows the challenge he faces at Tennessee.
How could he not? Since 2013, he has seen what makes a championship-caliber team, serving as defensive coordinator to two of four active national title-winning coaches in Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher.
That said, and with all due respect to the Volunteers: Tennessee is not a championship-caliber program. But Pruitt seems to know what it'll take for it to become respectable, at least.
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That’s going to start with recruiting and developing talent — factors that have set Saban’s Alabama apart from the rest of the country. In that regard, Pruitt points to the eight players selected in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft, recruited by members of his current staff. He points to his 13 assistants who have been on previous national title-winning teams.
To his credit, the first-year coach isn’t concerned with Tennessee’s struggles prior to his arrival in Knoxville — “I wasn’t at Tennessee the last 10 years. I’ve been there for six months,” he said at SEC Media Days. That is undoubtedly for the best.
In the five years he helped coach at Florida State, Georgia and Alabama, Tennessee languished to 34-29 record under Butch Jones, including losing records against every one of their rivals.
The most noticeable difference between Pruitt and Jones in that six months?
“More discipline,” said receiver Marquez Callaway. “Coach Jones was a fun coach, always laughing, playing around with us. But there were times that we needed coaching, and that’s one thing Coach Pruitt does.”
That at least is an improvement from the previous year, a comedy of errors that devolved into a tragedy over the course of Jones’ final season. There was Champions of Life. #EmptyNeyland. A 4-8 record in 2017, including a winless outing in conference play.
But none of that comes close to the dizzying, disorienting coaching search that whipped the fan base into a frenzy against the administration. Tennessee, the second-winningest program in SEC history, was a farce, less than a shadow of what it could and used to be.
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It resulted in the firing of athletic director John Currie, and the hiring of Phillip Fulmer, the last coach to win a national title in Knoxville, to the same position.
Through it all, Fulmer told players to trust the administration, to know the right coach would be hired. And there at the end of that chapter was Pruitt, a stabilizing force for a program in desperate need.
“We really think we got a steal in Coach Pruitt,” said defensive end Kyle Phillips. “Everybody’s very excited about him. He’s got a great track record at multiple schools, winning national championships, putting players to the next level. So we’re very excited, and I just think being on our team boosts our confidence that we’ll be in good hands.”
Of course, Pruitt seems to know it will take time before he can establish a winning product. The culture needs to change. Pruitt needs time to catch up to Georgia in the East, and Alabama in the West. There will be "bumps," as Pruitt calls them, and getting started against West Virginia isn't exactly a gimme game.
But Tennessee should know this, and should afoord that time to, especially considering where the program was just months ago.
“I talk about football being a developmental game, it's the same way for coaches,” Pruitt said. “I am sure 10 years from now, I'll be a better head coach than I will be this fall.”
If Tennessee does that, then maybe the same might be said for the Volunteers.
