Thing that concerns me is how Pruitt ties to act like Nick without the resume to back it up. Staff turnover and firing coaches mid season are big red flags. However, you need to play this smart for once as an AD. Knowing Calbert and Bailey missing 28 days and contract tracing Nazi’s I K town makes Pruitt’s situation not the same as a lot of the competition. We had development since he’s been here till this year when most of his guys are young. Other teams had veteran players who could miss spring and didn’t need the S and C and hands on work. You start a freshman and in a 10 game all SEC schedule even more so, expect a loss. Covid really could have a more damaging effect in a MAJOR rebuild like this. We were lucky to win 8 games last year AND I do think a dynamic QB could make a difference.
Regardless, Pruitt has a lot of growing to do. But this class with a highly rated QB coming in could be a third solid class to build upon. You fire the coach today and you see the top half of that get blown up regardless of who you hire.
Smart thing is every month Pruitt is here the buyout goes down plus in February, Jones is off books. Don’t fire a coach with early signing day approaching. Wait a month and see how many he gets to sign. If they bail on us and a lot would if you fire him now, with no visits and top players already signed, you go from a top 15 to a 60th and you can’t afford to only have 2 decent classes in the last 5 years. Once sign they could still leave BUT it would give a brand new coach a chance to sell his vision.
One thing VERY different with Pruitt than Butch and I like this a lot. He really cares about these kids. At times, maybe too much to his detriment. I think he sees Mauer and knows the suicide thoughts down to having written his suicide notes and that’s affected Pruitt greatly. It’s understandable and he didn’t want to see him get blown up and shaken or at worse. a major injury. Protecting the kid despite seeing JG. He’s a stubborn man but he’s also stubborn enough to carry it in his shoulders and failing if need be to protect these kids. He’s rough and says stupid things but he cares about his players.
I am hoping he trust his guys to protect Bailey and I’ve seen enough to where I would let him play. But maybe game 3, we would’ve seen a different Bailey who really wasn’t ready.
Smart thing for an AD is just let it play out. Do not get in a hurry. See what happens with ESD and look at it after January 1. Unless we can get an established power 5 coach who could keep this class together and guarantee success like a Peterson or Meyer, just wait a few months and make a good decision with as many facts as possible. The Billy Napier’s of the world will still be there. But if this class and team sinks the next couple of months then pull the trigger.
