Who will become head coach first- Smart or Pruitt?

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Smart

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Better be in the Big 10 where HUNH isn't played

Pruitt hasn't done shite yet. We haven't even seen a defense comprised entirely of his recruiting and development.

We, and by we I mean the UGA faithful, are hoping this how Pruitt sees it too. We are hoping that he will stick around for a few years at UGA and show that he can recruit and develop from the ground up.

This is probably wishful thinking, but thats how I see it.

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Pruitt has shown the propensity to take other jobs with a quickness. IMO it'll be him.

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Agreed. Pruitt is a job-hopper (I don't mean that negatively. He's all about mobility), while Smart is quickly becoming Bud Foster 2.0.

If Pruitt is successful at UGa for a few seasons, I'm curious to see who in the conference would be open to hiring him. Florida won't roll the dice with another coordinator, I don't think, and it's wayyyyy too early to think of who else would have an opening in around three years.

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MO he stays at UGA for ~3 years before jumping on a quality HC position

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If UGA has a top 15-20 defense and goes to the playoffs, then some team will come calling. Depending on that program, he may be gone. His stock would be pretty high after Bama, FSU then UGAs success.

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and it's wayyyyy too early to think of who else would have an opening in around three years.

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South Caolina? Will Spurrier hang around that much longer?

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South Caolina? Will Spurrier hang around that much longer?

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Certainly possible. Spurrier has been at USC longer than I expected him to be, and I have no idea how much longer he will stick around. Three years is a pretty realistic timeframe for him to hang it up. If /when that happens and Pruitt has had success at UGa and has been adept at recruiting, I think USC could very well come calling.

There's quite a lot of conversation about who USC's next coach would be, but I really like the idea of a hard-nosed defensive type. Would have loved Strong were he still at Louisville.

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How does south Carolina manage the Spurrier eventual retirement - you don't want it to get to a point where recruiting suffers because SEC teams will use that against them

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Great question. I think Tanner is smart enough to know how to manage this, seeing as how he did the same thing when he left the baseball job to take the AD gig. He already had his successor in place in Holbrook (who may or may not pan out).

There are a lot of fans who are convinced that the next head coach is already on staff. If that's the case, the only guy I want in that job is Shawn Elliott, the OL coach. He's a great recruiter, is well-respected in his position, is young, and is from SC.

If the next coach is outside of the program, I've got to think that Spurrier will let Tanner know, perhaps during the season, that this is his last year. That would at least give Tanner some time to make contact and develop a plan of action, so as to essentially have made his pick by the time that Spurrier formally announces his retirement. I don't think that Spurrier will drop this on Tanner - he'll have plenty of notice. Holtz did the exact same thing.