Dawn of the Dawg
Fansided

Georgia Football: Rivals get feisty at SEC media days

By Alistair Penny

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Alabama Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt on the field during warm ups prior to the game against the Georgia Bulldogs in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Pruitt was named the new head coach for the Tennessee Volunteers. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Alabama Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt on the field during warm ups prior to the game against the Georgia Bulldogs in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Pruitt was named the new head coach for the Tennessee Volunteers. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images /

Jeremy Pruitt is going to be fun… For everyone who is not a Vols fan.

I LOVE the Jeremy Pruitt hire for Tennessee. Not because I think he’s going to turn around a program that should be much better than it is. No, I love it for a rather different reason. Jeremy Pruitt is one of the biggest hotheads in college football and I cannot wait to watch his volcanic eruptions in Knoxville.

Now, I am going to give him some credit, the guy is a great coach. He does a terrific job working with defenses and there’s no doubt that he is a heck of a recruiter. But dig deeper into his personality and you’ll see some crazy issues. We’re not talking about isolated one-offs here. There’s a pattern of behavior that has followed him everywhere he’s worked. None of which bodes well for him stepped up to be an HC. I actually cannot believe the Vols have gone from Butch Jones to this guy.

There is a reason that UGA was able to hire him after he built a championship defense at Florida State in a lateral hire. It’s the same reason that he was not retained by Kirby Smart after Mark Richt left. The guy burns bridges like almost no coach in football. Handing him full control of a program isn’t going to make that side of his character suddenly get better. In fact, it’s likely to only make it worse.

We saw that today when Aaron Murray was critical of how he behaved at UGA and treated Mark Richt. Rather than try and play down the comment and move on, Pruitt is gonna Pruitt and that means of course, that he’s going to throw back some shade. It’s the same behavior we’ve always seen from the guy and it’s not a good sign if you’re a Tennessee fan. Just remember, this is the same person who called out his own fans because he didn’t think enough of them came to his Spring game. He’s a hothead who always thinks that he’s right and doesn’t exactly do well with feedback. Sounds like a great head coach right?

Now, none of the previous issues has ever been definitively reported, but the fact is, that you don’t need to do a lot of research to see what I’m talking about. A simple google search will open your eyes to some truly unacceptable behavior. At the very least, it’s going to make the Vols even easier to root against. If it all blows up, we could be looking at a scorched earth situation that makes Butch Jones look like Nick Saban.

Next: Looking at the new commits

If I was Pruitt, I’d probably keep my head down and look at this as a 5-year rebuild. I’d also acknowledge that I’d walked into a program that was turned down by roughly 10 coaches before him because it was such a dumpster fire. Then again, Jeremy Pruitt has a habit of only listening to Jeremy Pruitt, so I think we all know how this is going to end… Let the fireworks begin.

Home/Georgia Football