Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[MarcoVol]

Pruitt is going to have 1 more win after 3 seasons than Dooley. So yes he should be fired, unless you think Dooley should still be coaching here.

Napier is the absolute floor (higher than Chadwell) and would take this job the instant it was offered to him.

Keeping Pruitt means endorsing a 3 win season, which is the fewest wins since 1924. Do you want to stand behind that?

Not really comparing apples to apples.

Dooley never coached vs a 10-game, all-SEC schedule.

Dooley went like 4-18 vs the SEC.

Pruitt is 10-15 vs the SEC.

Pruitt hasn’t been good. Dooley was WAY worse.

 

[Cactus Jack]

A competent admin could have a "plan" right now and execute it. Go out and get Freeze. Throw a ton of money at Campbell and make him say no. Kick the tires on Gus. There are many good options.

I just figure that our admin won't entertain any of them.

Ok so politely i'll ask again. How long should we wait to fire him then? The admin isn't going to change. Do we just keep Pruitt until he gets so tired of losing that he leaves on his own? I"m not disagreeing that our admin is pretty pitiful btw, I think we can all agree on that.

 

[UTgrad2015]

No decision rides on the aTm game. It's the #5 team in the country and they're a better, more complete team than we are this year. The decision rides on what the guy at the top wants to do and whether UT can make what they feel is the right hire. A very small group has meaningful input.

No point in me repeating this over and over. Those who choose to believe otherwise, feel free.

Then what’s your % confidence something happens?

 

[jdavis675]

I can't wait to see your thoughts when we hire North Dakota State's special team coach to a 5-year, $25M deal with a large, guaranteed buyout after axing Pruitt with no plan.

Y'all like to think of yourselves as negative and cynical, but you actually have faith in the admin to conduct a search. I don't.

Who is to say there is not a plan? I have no clue either way.

I do know that it won’t get past Napier who is an upgrade from Pruitt. So it’s an easy call to fire the guy.

 

[SLICKYINC]

Just another sun rise on VN..

 

[BruinVol]

GS can coach
best year in their big ten history this season.

2020 3-5
2019 0-9
2018 0-9
2017 3-6
2016 0-9
2015 1-7

 

[05_never_again]

There is no evidence that John Doe cannot get it done at UT. There is, however, three years of evidence that Pruitt cannot get it done at UT.

You really think a WR coach from an obscure G5 school has a better job of turning this program around than Pruitt? Because that's who we're liable to end up with.

If Phil is in charge of a coaching search, I'm afraid he'd hire Randy Sanders. Seriously. Does Randy Sanders have better odds of turning this around than Pruitt?

 

[InVOLuntary]

I have serious doubts as to CJP's temperament to be a head coach at this stage, but here are a few thoughts:

1) Having finished his third year, CJP is a junior with regards to being a HC and has certainly taken some lumps. The game has changed. Alabama and UGA have stacked the defensive side of the ball with some of the best talent in the country and have looked inept against some great offenses. Saban adjusted far more quickly to the notion that it is now a great offense that prevails than Pruitt and Smart have. Looks like Smart may be figuring it out, but he was also playing with with house money as in terms of a stacked roster. CJP is fighting a bigger battle. CJP is going to either adjust, or forget about ever being a head coach again.

2) Do we rip it up again with another coaching search for someone who may/may not have the chops and will have to learn again as the new realities of the game slaps them in the face? Open transfer rules, politics (yes, this crap is making its way into CFB) and who knows what else. Or do we hope someone helps CJP realize what he needs to do to be a successful HC. Unfortunately, while I like CPF, I'm not sure he knows either, so CJP may not get much help there.

3) No one mistakes Ed Orgeron for a brilliant head coach. But one thing he did do, is listen to very good advice about what he's proficient at and what he is not. He then hired good people and let them do their jobs resulting in arguably the best team in college history. Of course, sitting on top of one of the most fertile recruiting areas of the country that is locked in to his school does not hurt either. The point being, maybe the way forward is, instead of criticizing CJP (again, I'm not a fan of his at this point!), some smart boosters come to grips with this and use their acumen in management to guide him. Sounds like a long shot, but we all know how successful dysfunctional coaching searches every few years are and I'd be shocked if recruits are not subtly reminded of that by our rivals.

4) Bottom line: To this point, yes Pruitt has failed. the real question is has he learned anything from it? He may not have yet, or worse, does not want to learn, but after year three, we do not know. We don't. I think it takes another year will tell the tale. If he's learned, we are ahead. If not, well, I'm heading to Tyson-McGhee to track flights.

Dang, son! Have you been to Jake's school of posting? (It is Jake that writes the novels?)

 

[Orange Studs]

No decision rides on the aTm game. It's the #5 team in the country and they're a better, more complete team than we are this year. The decision rides on what the guy at the top wants to do and whether UT can make what they feel is the right hire. A very small group has meaningful input.

No point in me repeating this over and over. Those who choose to believe otherwise, feel free.

What scares me is what is their definition of the right hire. After 4 screw ups not sure I trust them to make the right hire.

 

[05_never_again]

Ok so politely i'll ask again. How long should we wait to fire him then? The admin isn't going to change. Do we just keep Pruitt until he gets so tired of losing that he leaves on his own? I"m not disagreeing that our admin is pretty pitiful btw, I think we can all agree on that.

It depends on if there's a plan.

If there's a plan, fire him today.

 

[jakez4ut]

We already have a bad coach. Rolling the dice at least creates the opportunity that we get a good one.

Obviously it’s preferable that we hire an established name. But if that isn’t gonna happen, I’ll still take the field of McGoogles over Proot.

meh. it's not my money, but financially that wouldn't make any sense for the universtiy/utad to do.

kinda like it makes no sense for auburn to spend what will wind up being nearly $30M to promote the Defensive coordinator.

so, if they are back channeling to see who legitimately is interested, that may be winds up dictating the decision to keep him if the response they get is less than desirable.

so you pivot from that, make the necessary changes on the staff, and then hope this mcgoogle coach accidentally BECOMES a good coach.

either way...will take a bit of luck, but with the latter, the UTAD saves about 15M in buyouts. lol. so tell me which one is more likely?

 

[05_never_again]

Who is to say there is not a plan? I have no clue either way.

I do know that it won’t get past Napier who is an upgrade from Pruitt. So it’s an easy call to fire the guy.

Because they've demonstrated time and time again for about 13 years that they don't have a plan.

 

[GroverCleveland]

Dang, son! Have you been to Jake's school of posting? (It is Jake that writes the novels?)

LOL!

Well, it is a matter of perspective. I just put all that in one post, instead of 100+ pages of posts!

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

If they don't hire Freeze they'll have Gus in here by next Friday

 

[jdavis675]

there's nothing obvious about any of this.

it's a good gig if you can get it.

but nobody "endorses" a 3 wins season. jeez.

After 15 years on this merry go round keeping a guy after winning 3 games in a season pretty much plants the flag in the ground that we are a 3 win program.

We will hear from the same “can’t fire the guy” posters next year that 6 wins is an improvement.

 

[jdavis675]

Because they've demonstrated time and time again for about 13 years that they don't have a plan.

I don’t disagree with that statement at all. But you realize that Napier and Chadwell would take the job and it wouldn’t get past either of them right? They are an upgrade from Pruitt.

 

[BJWeeks]

From Bob_Vols on 247...

The thing that makes me mad if this is all true is the idea of a search committee. It doesn't sound like they have thought anyb of this through. Hiring Hugh Freeze or Kiffin is the easiest decision of their life . One of these hires will unite the fanbase for once.

 

[Cactus Jack]

If they don't hire Freeze they'll have Gus in here by next Friday

Sadly i think this is probably correct. Geez when Gus comes in here and recruiting is stagnant the "he's just sitting on his buyout money with his feet kicked up" crowd is going to be all time brutal. I'd take my chances with Chadwell before Gus.

 

[MrVolton]

You really think a WR coach from an obscure G5 school has a better job of turning this program around than Pruitt? Because that's who we're liable to end up with.

If Phil is in charge of a coaching search, I'm afraid he'd hire Randy Sanders. Seriously. Does Randy Sanders have better odds of turning this around than Pruitt?

As bad as the last three hires and one non-hire have been, none of those candidates had a resume as bad as what you are trying to make out (although Dooley’s was close). And yes, I think there is a pretty long list of coaches out there that would say yes to UT, and could do a much better job than what Pruitt has done.

 

[greazy1722]

Best of luck to him. I'll be pulling for him no matter where he ends up..

Thanks man

 

[jakez4ut]

Dang, son! Have you been to Jake's school of posting? (It is Jake that writes the novels?)

 

[LA Vol]

What scares me is what is their definition of the right hire. After 4 screw ups not sure I trust them to make the right hire.

Only one of them was involved in the last search and he isn't making the call this time.

 

[05_never_again]

I don’t disagree with that statement at all. But you realize that Napier and Chadwell would take the job and it wouldn’t get past either of them right? They are an upgrade from Pruitt.

Honestly, no.

Of course Napier or Chadwell would accept the job if offered, but I'm not convinced our admin would offer it to them in a search. Seriously. Our people are complete idiots.

 

[DustyRockSolid]

Imma play Wow instead of watch tomorrow. F it

Bet you're a retribution paladin.

 

[Voltrapnbama]

too much message board fodder.

two weeks of wild speculation...on a coaching search we made up.....

i think it's the same as it's been for the past month. a lot is TBD. but the lion's share of the hay is already in the barn, and i have a hard time believing that after how the UK and Ark games went, that it all comes down to the last game of the year against a top 5 team vying for a play off berth...regardless of what has been posted.

you can put JP's body of work at TN on a screen and determine right now that he is a guy that is ripe for firing. there's absolutely nothing about his performance here that says "you gotta keep this guy".

so, no, i don't think the aTm game matters one bit. not at all.

i think they're doing what most do. wait til the season is over, and make a decision. and this year, i think situation and circumstance, as well as the immediate health of the program and the long term health of the program have to be the driving factors in whatever decision....and included in that is, or it better be, "who are we getting". deciding to fire pruitt is easy, as stated above....there's already enough to justify moving on from pruitt. it HAS to be about who are we getting, can we get?

i'm not going to advocate for the competency of our "powers that be", but even i don't think they're all sitting around like "well, let's see what he does this weekend"

let's not let good fodder get in the way of common sense.

This