KNOXVILLE – Craig Fitzgerald left Tennessee on March 19 to join the New York Giants as Director of Strength and Performance.
He served as Tennessee’s Director of Football Sports Performance since 2018.
On Friday, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt discussed Fitzgerald leaving UT for the first time during a Zoom conference call.
Pruitt mentioned that Fitzgerald “had an opportunity to take several jobs” recently.
“It’s something that I learned a long time ago, if you embrace the job that you have and you do a really good job at it, opportunities present themselves,” Pruitt said.
The third-year Tennessee head coach said Fitzgerald working for the Giants was an opportunity for him and his family “to get a little closer to home” and “was something that he wanted to take advantage of.”
Pruitt will now look to fill Fitzgerald’s void within the Vols’ strength program.
“We have really good support within the guys that are on strength staff right now,” Pruitt said. “They’re doing a fantastic job – they’re very motivated.
“There will be a time soon that we’ll make the move with that position, just kind of going through talking to some folks out there and seeing what’s the best way that we can make that program better moving forward that fits my vision of where we want this program to be.”