Three Southeastern Conference head coaches have been fired this season.
Gus Malzahn (Auburn), Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) and Will Muschamp (South Carolina) have been relieved of their head coaching duties after competing in a 10-game, SEC-only regular season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Third-year Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt discussed the trio being fired this season.
“It is unusual circumstances and nobody knows the circumstances around each individual job,” Pruitt said. “I got a lot of respect for all three of those men. Coaching against them, getting to know them coaching in this league, I think they have done a phenomenal job at the places that they have been.
“It’s really the rough part on this when there is a coaching change. Whether it is somebody leaving or somebody getting another opportunity, the people who suffer are the student-athletes. You build the relationships, you recruit them to come to a certain school. I’ve had it both ways — I’ve been fired before and I’ve had opportunities before. The worst part of it is, in either scenario, the people that you have created these relationships with and built a bond with to come to a certain school — that’s the people that suffer in all this.”
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