Though fans seemed to want someone with more ties to the school and program, Tennessee may have gotten a better football coach than any of the more common names being kicked around.
The almost comically long and twisting road to finding a new Tennessee football coach may finally end tomorrow. Bruce Feldman of Sports Illustrated reports that the Volunteers will raid a rival SEC school and make Jeremy Pruitt their next coach.
The 43-year-old Pruitt has never been a head coach at any level, but he brings with him both a reputation as an ace recruiter and a championship pedigree. After winning two national championships as the defensive backs coach under Nick Saban during his first stint at Alabama, he moved on to become defensive coordinator at Florida State. In 2013, his only season with the Seminoles, he constructed a unit that led the nation in scoring defense en route to another national championship.
Pruitt’s hiring would put an end to a saga that looked set to end in November with Ohio State coordinator Greg Schiano becoming the new man in charge of the program. A deal fell apart, though, when fans, the media and even Tennessee politicians reacted negatively to the choice, with some citing Schiano’s tenuous links to the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State.
The uproar surrounding Schiano ended up costing athletic director John Currie his job, and replacement Phillip Fullmer had increasingly been rumored to be talking to “safe” Tennessee choices (read: alums) like USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin. Pruitt doesn’t fall in that category, but it’s hard to imagine Vols fans being too upset at a hire with his background of winning whose departure could hypothetically weaken Alabama at the same time.
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If Pruitt is introduced as the next Vols coach on Thursday, the next thing to keep an eye on is whether Saban will want him around through the College Football Playoff hunt. Saban famously didn’t want Lane Kiffin to remain on staff after he agreed to take the FAU job, though his relationship with Saban was always a bit chilly even at the best of times.