Pruitt on the start of the season

Tennessee is smart enough to be in the shade

 

Not talking about antics. Talking about emotion and effort. QB wasn’t playing defense

 

I'm more worried about almost the opposite -not that he doesn't care enough but that he's not completely in command because (for instance) he is obsessing about something that's past.

 

I don't have a problem with obsessing or addressing a previous play. The bigger problem with that is not allowing or feeling like your DC or DL coach are capable of taking care of that. I think he has a good staff, with a couple exceptions. Needs to let them teach.

The idea that he doesn't care just doesn't make sense at this point. You could see it with Dooley and last guy near the end, just don't see it right now.

 

Pruitt is 200% bought in at Tennessee.

He has not only assembled what is arguably the best coaching staff in the country, but waited less a year to replace BOTH coordinators, by shit-canning one and denoting another. Does this seem like the normal and safest move for a young head coach who is just coming out of his first full season to make? To not only admit that he was wrong in his decision that his first two hires were terrible - but to then work to immediately correct it? There are veteran coaches with hall of fame resumes and national titles who would never in a million years admit such thing, even while sitting atop a mountain of personal credibility - your current AD, included - but that’s exactly what Pruitt did, you should hope that he’d do, even if such was against his own interests. And that’s what he did.

He has exceeded every reasonable recruiting expectation, thus far, and continues to do so. Why is Tennessee even being mentioned by a single 4-5* player, much less actually being signed to play here? Name the reasons we’re giving recruits to come here beyond immediate playing time and an all-star staff, and then what? What else? I’ll tell you what else jack shit. And of the two reasons you still have left to give, you can thank Pruitt for both of those.

He is a young, first-time head coach. Tennessee knew this when they hired him, as did we all, and it’s unreasonable to now expect some magically immediate metamorphosis into something better or more experienced than he now is, much less as quickly as such is within his control or is even possible to do. I can want to enjoy a a 60-day dry-aged steak in 5-days time, and I can be pissed that it doesn’t taste as good after only a week of aging. But the problem isn’t my steak, or even the aging process - but my impossibly unreasonable expectations in asserting that the same affects should be achievable in a fraction of the time, ostensibly, by the sheer force of want and will.

He has made many, many mistakes. He has missed several opportunities. He has gotten much wrong, and done some stupid shit, for damned sure....but none which are unique to him, or which any reasonable person wouldn’t expect from a young coach, in his first year at a huge gig, and as the head guy.

He’s just now tipped the roster where there are more of his guys than Butch’s holdovers - and who we’re still relying on for roughly 70% of the actual in-game snaps. If these holdovers were worth or gave a shit, had been developed, or knew how to play, the whole team would be filled with Butch’s guys....because he’d still be here. But they don’t, and that’s why Butch is gone and has left this mess that Pruitt is now stuck with.

And this includes a pouty 4-year QB who has made it known to anyone who will listen that he only cares about bettering himself and his own stats, so as to increase his standing in the transfer portal .2 seconds after he takes his final snap of the current season, but who has also threatened to simply quit playing if he loses a meaningful rep to any backup. All of this aside, and easily the worst tragedy of all, is that he really is still the best option at that position and gives us the best chance to win games, which in turn gives Pruitt the best opportunity to hold this shaky recruiting class together - as it grows shakier by the loss - and which is paramount to the ship to merely have any hope of possibly being righted.

And this is the same cat who some of you now blame for not turning it around more quickly and fully. I mean, this young first year head coach has had a whopping 18 months on the job, and 1.5 recruiting classes to fix not only Butch’s disaster, but to fully atone for the now decade long sins of the most bumblingly incompetent leadership throughout the single worst era of our program’s history, and while our conference foes are literally re-writing the history books in the total domination of the rich and storied history of all of college football.

I mean, for [uck fay] sakes, if he doesn’t have all of that done before the second game of his second season, well, he’s clearly not the guy.

The millisecond he proves to me that he isn’t the guy, I’ll be right there with you, torching him and calling for his head (see: Dooley, Derek & Jones, Butch). But we aren’t there yet, and not even damned close to it. And anyone who says otherwise either can’t see the forest for the tress, or is simply retarded.

Damn almighty.

 

TL;DR

Fire Pruitt

 

Just the read the first and last sentence. The rest is just sprinkles on top.

 

He is not done here unless he loses the locker room.

 

I am of the opinion that if he's sitting at 1-7 at the end of October that he's in trouble.

 

I don’t see a scenario where we aren’t there.

UTC tomorrow. Then Florida, Georgia, MSU, bama, USC.

I don’t see more than one win unless we change quarterbacks.

 

Is that you, Vollygirl?

 

I think that starts tomorrow

 

Fixed.

 

You're a lot better poster now that your deck has been stained

 

Read the whole screed, classic rant, agree with all of it. If he loses anyone it will be the Butch holdovers. His boys will buy in.

 

Well I was on the fence, but Tenacious has convinced me.

 

There is a reason why you don't negotiate with terrorists. JG's threats, even if currently the best option, should have no bearing on how the team is managed. And it is another mistake of a young coach to let JG dictate snaps (if that is true).

 

I’d go ahead and fire Rick Barnes, too, just to be safe.