What level will Jeremy Pruitt push UT to in his tenure?

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Respectability?

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Lean toward this... uphill battle on recruiting trail against Saban and Kirby, but should have a leg up on most everyone else... on par with Muschamp as a staff but maybe edge them out with the Vols historical legacy.

ETA: Biggest question is how patient will Vol Nation be with him? Will a poor year one cause any friction in the fanbase?

2018 schedule is not friendly and he's not inheriting a great situation... could easily be 6 or more losses in year one. Year 2 is a better draw, as OOC schedule looks easy and rotating west opponent is Miss St. But then year 3 adds Oklahoma on the road as well as what may be a resurgent Arkansas under Chad Morris. Some interesting question marks for sure.

Butch was able to take us to a top 10 ranking and multiple top 10 classes, despite the fact that his football IQ is bordering 0 and the staff we’ve had the past 5 years is nowhere near SEC quality, especially for a school with as much resources as VOLS.


Think he will have us consistently in the top 15-20, and will likely recruit significantly better than his predecessors. Offense will be a question mark under him, but the defense should be consistently good once he’s got the personnel for 3-4. No way to tell what his ceiling is since this is his first gig.

Winning at Tennessee really isn’t that difficult to do, despite the fact that we’ve made it look like rocket science the past 10 years

He won’t ever top Saban and Kirby just due to the plethora of instate goons in Georgia, and Saban being Saban.


But I think he and his staff are capable of outrecruiting the rest of the SEC. Tennessee is only going to produce more and more SEC talent as the population in the midstate continues to grow, and he’s a good enough recruiter to pull in guys from Cali, Florida, Texas, and Georgia.


Think he’ll have top 10 classes at a minimum ever year, and will be able to push top 4-5 in really good years (ie the 2019 class).

I think both are in similar scenarios right now with the teams they inherited. I think VOLS have put together the much better staff, both recruiting and coaching, but Mullen is obviously a very nice little playcaller and they haven’t had nearly the issues with player development and S&C that VOLS have had the past two years.


If I had to guess, I’d say Mullen and Florida will be better the first couple seasons. VOLS not only have roster issues, but are also transitioning from a 4-3 to 3-4, and from HUNH or w/e Lyles abortion of an offense was to a pro style offense. Few years down the line, and I think both teams will consistently be top 15 every year under their new regimes.



Agree that Pruitt will have more time to get things rolling than Mullen will.

If he can hire a decent OC and recruiters, he has a chance to do well.

He is an a-hole, but he is a purpose driven a-hole and a players-coach. He is just what UT needs

Very much appreciate the effort he put into prep and the adjustments he made to bring home another title during peak recruiting period.

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I'm thinking Pruitt will eventually outdo Mullen. I think it's going to be hard for Mullen to get elite Florida talent for the next 2-3 years -- Miami will be getting a good bit of it, FSU will be in the mix but I think other elite teams out there like Bama and Georgia will get some great Florida players before even UF does.

Mullen needs to win a lot sooner than Pruitt does imho.

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I think your last statement is the key. I *think* that Vol fans will be more patient with Pruitt than Gator fans will be with Mullen. Vols hired a first year HC that is going to have some growing pains of his own, Gators hired a veteran coach who they believe to be an offensive "guru" to help push them over the hump in their minds (and paid him accordingly)... they won the East back to back in 15/16.

Pruitt is a better recruiter and probably (haven't stack ranked their staffs) hired a better recruiting staff overall as well. Fewer draws on the improving in-state talent in Tennessee and good inroads to neighboring states should ensure that he has success on the recruiting trail, particularly defensively.

Mullen has a somewhat spotty track record as a recruiter, but he's now at UF which traditionally has had no problem pulling in its fair share of quality talent from the state pool at least. I think you're more likely to see a meeting in the middle... they'll get solid talent at the pass rushing positions defensively and skill positions offensively, but may struggle to get quality talent on the LOS. QB has been a revolving door question mark for quite some time... if Mullen can get that part figured out, it will be the key to having success at UF of any kind, but maybe not at the level that they would like.

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No one knows if he has that.

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Then why are you setting the ceiling on respectability?

You can make a similar argument about Kirby.

“Idk how good he will be at running a program, but I know his ceiling”

Same as Butch.

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The biggest difference is probably that Kirby showed stability, where Pruitt had to bounce around. None of that is to say that he won't have the chops, but you had a longer and more stable track record for Kirby demonstrating not just his level of professionalism, but also time spent learning under Saban.

I'm not saying his *absolute* ceiling is respectability... but it's not unreasonable to say that is the "most likely" scenario based on what is known at this time.

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And that's fair, why I made sure to put similar. I still think he contradicts himself in that post.