Tennessee Ends Their Circus Of A Coaching Search By Hiring Jeremy Pruitt

After three and half weeks of wild speculation, fan base rejection, outrage, confusion, and media hyperbole, the zaniest coaching search in the history of coaching searches is finally over, as Tennessee has officially hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

On the one hand, I suppose we should judge all of these hires compared to Greg Schiano, the bag of crap the Vols originally tried to sell us. So if that's the standard, then Pruitt is unquestionably the better hire. Both he and Schiano are defensive-minded coaches, but Pruitt is 8 years younger, is perennially one of the best assistants in college football, is considered a phenomenal recruiter, and has spent the last decade in either the SEC or at Florida State.

But hiring Pruitt is also a roll of the dice, so much so that he wasn’t even on my radar when this whole thing started, and you would've been hard-pressed to find him near the top of anyone else's either. Even still, there are some positive things surrounding him that I like. Everyone that's worked with him has nothing but praise for the job he does, and the perception among coaches is that he’s ready for an opportunity like the one at Tennessee. Plus, when Nick Saban needed to hire a DC before the 2016 season, he hand-picked Pruitt. That has to mean something right?

Then again, he’s also never been a head coach before, and with that brings a whole lot of questions and uncertainty. Are we sure he’s got the skill set to be wildly successful as the top man? Sure, he could be like Georgia’s Kirby Smart, also a former Saban DC who had never been a head coach before, who got the Bulldogs to the playoff in Year 2. Or he could go up in flames like a zillion other coordinators who took over at big time jobs when they either weren’t ready or didn’t have the natural coaching ability to run a successful program. Pruitt doesn’t have the track record of other guys they were interested in that turned them down, like Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin, Mike Gundy, or Jeff Brohm.

By the end of Year 2, I think we'll have a pretty good grasp on what kind of a hire he ends up being. Why? Because since the SEC added a championship game in 1992, every coach that captured the conference title won at least 9 games by their second season. I think a 25 year sample size is more than enough of one to make an assertion like that. 

And since I believe this, I'm going to try and not make any sweeping judgments about Pruitt until after the 2019 season. Next year very well might be another tough campaign, as the Vols have a brutal six week stretch that goes like this: Florida, at Georgia, bye week, at Auburn, Alabama, and at South Carolina. Sheesh. No breaks from the schedule makers there. There’s a possibility they, with a still shaky QB and a new offensive system, lose all five of those games.

Is Pruitt going to try and bring Alabama’s physical, pro-style attack to Knoxville? If so, that’s something I could get behind. The Tide have spent the last decade winning the line of scrimmage and bowling over everyone with their powerful running game. But the thing I don’t think Saban has gotten enough credit for over the years is his willingness to take shots down the field. Throughout the game, he’ll slowly and methodically pound the ball on the ground, as he bides his time waiting for the safeties to creep towards the line of scrimmage. And when he gets a matchup one-on-one on the outside, he’ll bomb it down the field to one of his athletes and let them make a play. 

The Tide are a machine though, and the consistency in that attack has been built up over the last decade. Plus, I’m not 100% sure the Vols have the right quarterback on their roster. I respect the hell out of Jarrett Guarantano for the beating he took this season behind an offensive line that was in tatters, but he didn’t exactly do anything that made me think, “Wow, this guy really has a chance to be special”. Is it possible he was betrayed by Tennessee’s offensive staff, a group that was potentially the worst in the Power 5? I suppose that's conceivable. But I wouldn’t be my life on Guarantano being the guy.

Everyone in the media seems to think Pruitt will be able to put together an incredible staff. I hope their right. Whoever Pruitt decides to hire as his offensive coordinator will be the most important decision of his first year on the job. There’s been some buzz surrounding former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze, which would be a nice snag if the Vols could land him. Yes, I know he’s got the “I called hookers from my university cell phone” and "NCAA trouble" baggage, but I’m not asking him to be the leader of my program, I just need him to call awesome plays and help develop the quarterbacks. And if he doesn't have any sanctions from his time at Ole Miss following him, then I don't see why the Tennessee wouldn't want him. But if the Vols can’t get him, we know, at least according to reports, that Tee Martin won’t be coming to join Pruitt’s staff either. I love Tee, and he helped bring a national championship to Rocky Top, but if you believe the local media in Los Angeles, Martin is, while serviceable, not viewed as an elite OC.

One more thing: Pruitt is going to continue coaching Alabama until their season is over while also attempting to get everything ready for his first season in Knoxville. I’d be more concerned, except Kirby Smart did the same thing two years ago with the Tide, and it seems to have worked out at Georgia so far.

Despite all my reservations, it’s going to be nice to see someone standing on the podium in front of everyone gladly accepting this coaching position. I want Pruitt to be wildly successful. I’ll be rooting like hell for him. And I think there’s a very good chance he’ll do a great job in Knoxville. At least I hope he does, because my heart can’t go through another decade-long stretch like it just did.