Jeremy Pruitt is trending on Twitter as rumors and speculation swirl regarding the open Alabama DC job
Former Alabama football defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt has had his name in the headlines for a few days. Ever since Pete Golding announced his departure from the Crimson Tide program for the Ole Miss defensive coordinator job, Pruitt has been one of the most talked-about potential candidates.
With Nick Saban and the Alabama program, not much information leaks from behind closed doors. Though many may speculate, no one can be certain who the candidates are to replace Golding at DC. That doesn’t stop the rumors from swirling.
Pruitt’s name is trending on Twitter as fans and analysts discuss the possibility of him being cleared by the SEC and returning to Alabama in some capacity.
McElroy mentioned he would consider having former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt rejoining Alabama’s coaching staff under Nick Saban. Pruitt served as Alabama’s defensive coordinator (2016-17), defensive backs coach (2010-12) and director of player development (2007-09) under Saban.
“I think the issue is more with the coaching staff as much as it is with the players,” McElroy told Finebaum of Alabama. “The players, look you shoulder some of the blame for sure, but I do get the sense, a little bit that, and I’ve talked to coaches throughout college football that have either been in Tuscaloosa or have a good understanding of what goes on in Tuscaloosa, or you know, are close personal friends of the program or whatever. I’ve talked to people all over the place and there is a lot of people that feel like Nick Saban and the staff right there, and currently in Tuscaloosa, the staff that’s currently there, doesn’t really understand necessarily the principles and the foundation, the bedrocks of the foundation from which the program was built.
“I think it’d be really beneficial to evaluate at the end of the season your coaching staff, and then evaluate who are some guys that helped build this thing from the beginning back in 2007? Joe Pendry is retired, OK, but you know, there’s a handful of other guys that are still out there coaching. Whether it be Bo Davis, who’s currently serving as a defensive line coach in Texas, whether it be Jeremy Pruitt, who, of course, was the head coach — and as far as I know, I don’t believe he has a show cause — the head coach of Tennessee. I don’t know, you would know that circumstance better than me, but if he’s available, he would be someone I would strongly consider bringing in.”
Kickoff between the Vols and Bulldogs is slated for 3:30 p.m. EDT. CBS will televise the SEC East matchup from Sanford Stadium.
Ahead of the Tennessee-Georgia game, former Vols’ head coach Jeremy Pruitt discussed the matchup on the “DawgNation Daily Podcast.”
“Georgia is going to block a field goal,” Pruitt said. “I really believe that. If you look at Tennessee, even against Alabama on the game-winning field goal, there was a lot of leakage in there. This past week against Kentucky, the same thing.
“You put Jalen Carter in there, and the best players there, there’s a chance. To me, when they block a field goal, are they going to scoop it and score? I really see Georgia blocking a field goal this week.”
PHOTOS: Tennessee football head coaches through the years
Tennessee has a storied football program that began play in 1891.
The Vols have won six national championships (1938, 1940, 1950, 1951, 1967, 1998). Robert Neyland won four national championships as Tennessee’s head coach, while Doug Dickey and Phillip Fulmer each guided the Vols to one title.
Tennessee has won 13 Southeastern Conference championships: Phillip Fulmer (2), Johnny Majors (3), Doug Dickey (2), Bowden Wyatt (1) and Robert Neyland (5).
UT won two Southern Conference championships under Neyland in 1927 and 1932.
Tennessee also won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association title in 1914 under head coach Zora G. Clevenger.
Below are photos of Tennessee’s head coaches through the years.
Jeremy Pruitt, who was the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers from 2018 until he was fired in 2020 after an internal investigation found evidence of recruiting violations, may be in a bit of hot water.
Just a few weeks ago, the Vols were hit with a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA that accused the program of committing 18 different recruiting violations under Pruitt, including the distribution of around $60,000 in improper benefits.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t hit the tables and try to make some cash while under investigation.
Pruitt has apparently made the jump from football to poker, as he competed in a $1,100 buy-in tournament in North Carolina this week that is a part of the World Series of Poker.
Former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt's final No-Limit Hold'em results and earnings in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event No. 9. https://t.co/XvHwN7B5aU
In the No-Limits Hold’Em competition, which is the ninth event on the WSOP circuit, Pruitt finished 23rd with $2,964 in winnings. The total prize pool for the event was $404,625 with 415 total entries.
A longtime SEC assistant, Pruitt spent two different stints under Nick Saban at Alabama. He was the defensive coordinator during the latter stint, which ultimately allowed him to land his first head coaching job with the Vols.
After a 5-7 finish in Year 1, Pruitt’s Tennessee team went 8-5 in 2019 with a win in the Gator Bowl. However, the team ultimately went 3-7 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and poor performance alongside potential NCAA penalties ultimately cost him his job.
Depending on the results of the NCAA investigation, Pruitt’s future in coaching (at least at the college level) could be in question. He spent the 2021 season as a senior defensive assistant with the New York Giants but was not retained following the season.
He could be facing a show-cause from the NCAA, which would significantly limit his job prospects for the foreseeable future, but it seems he’s at least found a new career path.
Former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s final No-Limit Hold’em results and earnings in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event No. 9.
Former Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt took part in a No-Limit Hold’em World Series of Poker Circuit Event No. 9.
The event took place Aug. 11-12 at Harrah’s Cherokee in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Pruitt served as the Vols’ head coach from 2018-20. Tennessee went 16-19 (10-16 SEC) during Pruitt’s tenure as head coach. Tennessee defeated Indiana, 23-22, in the 2020 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl under Pruitt.
Vols Wire revisits the annual salaries of Tennessee’s head football coaches over the past decade.
The salaries of college football head coaches have skyrocketed over the past decade, greatly outpacing inflation.
The Tennessee Volunteers program is no exception. Although $1 in 2012 is now worth $1.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Vols paid Josh Heupel in 2021 twice as much as Derek Dooley earned in 2012.
To get an idea of how rapidly coaching salaries are rising, Vols Wire compiled the annual compensation paid out to University of Tennessee head football coaches over the past decade below.
A former Tennessee analyst has been hired as an ACC offensive coordinator.
Chip Long served as Tulane’s offensive coordinator during the 2021 season.
He will serve in the same capacity at Georgia Tech in 2022 under head coach Geoff Collins. Collins has been the Yellow Jackets’ head coach since 2019.
Long went to Tulane after serving as an offensive quality control analyst at Tennessee in 2020 under head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Collins and Pruitt coached together in off-field capacities in 2007 at Alabama.
Long came to Tennessee after a three-year stint as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator and tight ends coach from 2017-19.
For a while, the defensive coordinator position on the Alabama Crimson Tide’s coaching staff was easily the most consistent, besides the head man Nick Saban himself, anyways. But that harmonious consistency has since dissipated and has become a revolving door of coaches, though not quite as tumultuous as the offensive coordinator turnover.
After 15 years in Tuscaloosa, Saban has had five different defensive coordinators put in time for him at Alabama.
From Kirby Smart to Pete Golding, how do Saban’s various defensive coordinators during his reign at Alabama rank?
Ken Smithmier, a judgement expert hired by Alabama, provides analysis of Josh Heupel, Butch Jones, Lane Kiffin, Dan Mullen, Jeremy Pruitt and Nick Saban.
Ken Smithmier has worked closely with Alabama’s football program under seven-time national championship head coach Nick Saban.
Smithmier is a judgement expert with P3 Insights who provides advice to the likes of Saban and other coaches and administrators throughout college football.
His calling with Alabama came on the heels of Saban firing then-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin during the College Football Playoff in 2016. Kiffin was hired as Florida Atlantic’s head coach, and was relieved from his duties by Saban after he did not provide his full attention to Alabama’s team.
Smithmier joined the show “Football Two-A-Days” and discussed how he was connected with Alabama’s program and Saban. Smithmier also discussed how much longer he anticipates Saban to coach. Saban turns 70 on Oct. 31.
“Saban loves what he does and is good at we he does,” Smithmier said. “He is never going to retire until he either gets sick or dies because there would not be a replacement for the psychological replacement that comes from what he is doing right now and is so engaged.
“When Saban fired Kiffin a week before the national championship, I wrote a column in the Business Journal about it. The headline was ‘Did Saban make a judgment error? What stress and pressure can do to any leader.’ A few weeks after it was published, I printed out a copy of the article and put together some materials about what I do. I put them in an envelope and I mailed them to Saban. I have done this before with Ole Miss when Hugh Freeze blew up, I did it with Baylor, I did it with Tennessee with Butch Jones. One day, a few weeks after that, my phone rings and I look at it and it says Tuscaloosa. I pick up the phone and it is Scott Cochran. He said ‘Coach gave me your materials and told me to call you and see what you can do to help improve our football team.’ The one guy in the United States that probably does not need a thing from me, was the one guy out of all the schools that I wrote all of these letters — to learn what I do — I wound up getting hired by them.”
Butch Jones, Jeremy Pruitt and Josh Heupel
Butch Jones, Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Smithmier has interacted with former Tennessee head coaches Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt, as well as watching Josh Heupel from afar.
Smithmier emailed former Tennessee athletics director John Currie about Jones before he was relieved of his duties as the Vols’ head coach.
He did not hear back from Currie, but did connect with Jones in Tuscaloosa.
“I connected with Butch when he was an analyst at Alabama,” Smithmier said. “Near the end of his tenure, I had sent an email to John Currie when I watched Butch, what I thought was kind of a disastrous press conference. I was trying to describe to Currie what I thought was going on with him. I never heard anything from it.
“I told Butch about that in Tuscaloosa. I actually pulled the email up on my computer and let him read it. Butch always carried a notebook and a pen. He was writing down all these things that he and I were talking about. My sense of Butch was, he knew how to check off the boxes, but he did not grasp, or does not grasp, how to take all of those boxes and assembling them and organizing them into a broad strategic plan.”
Jeremy Pruitt, Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
During the early stages of Pruitt’s tenure he questioned fans who were not at the annual Orange & White Game, as he expected them to be in attendance.
“I met Jeremy, I did the same work for Jeremy one year at Tennessee that I did for Alabama,” Smithmier said. “Hubris, it’s a Greek word. The Greek’s put the word together, that they said when a mortal starts to act like a God, the gods will come down and wreak havoc from their heads.
“I thought Jeremy suffered from a little bit of that hubris. We saw how he talked about the fans early on in his tenure for instance, maybe comments he shouldn’t have made.”
Josh Heupel, Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
From afar, Smithmier views Heupel with high praise during his first season as Tennessee’s head coach.
“Heupel I do not know, but other than Mel Tucker at Michigan State, I don’t think there is any coach in the country that has done a more remarkable job in getting a program back on track than Heupel,” he said. “He clearly has a way to connect with his players personally or else they would not be rallying and playing like they are playing. He also has a clear sense, I don’t know if he ever articulates it, of kind of what he wants this team to be and what this offense is — because this offense works.
“I know coaches don’t believe in moral victories, but I believe in moral victories when you are rebuilding a company or when you are rebuilding a football team. The tangible victories, the big product sale, or the big win over Alabama, those don’t come very easily, but if you could get the psychology of the organization moving in the right direction, you have people bought in, like I think Heupel does, the product results are going to come. Maybe they won’t come this year, maybe there won’t be a whole lot of them next year, I don’t know, but I am on board of what Heupel is doing.”
Lane Kiffin and Dan Mullen
Dan Mullen, Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Dan Mullen enters Florida’s matchup in Week 9 against Georgia 2-6 in games against Power Five opponents in its last eight contests.
The Gators have defeated Tennessee and Vanderbilt, while suffering defeats to LSU twice, Alabama twice, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
Smithmier questions if Mullen is a national championship head coach.
“I don’t know Mullen, so once again, I am looking at people from afar,” he said. “Mullen’s profile is one that I run into a lot in successful executives. I describe it this way, there are people who are successful in spite of themselves and there are people who are successful because of themselves. Those who are successful in spite of themselves have success that is limited.
“I think Dan is a guy who’s success is going to always be in spite of himself. He thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. If he were an athlete, I think we would say he is a guy that does not take coaching well because when you think you are the smartest guy in the room, you don’t think you need that coaching. I personally would be surprised if he were to ever win a national championship.”
Lane Kiffin, Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Smithmier further detailed Kiffin and his past of not staying at jobs very long and a desire to overcome Saban in his career.
“Kiffin strikes me, and his history supports this, as a guy that is inherently unstable,” he said. “I don’t mean unstable psychologically, I am not implying that, I am not qualified to make that call. Just look at his tenure. How it turned out at Tennessee, how it turned out at USC, Saban fires him a week before the national championship game while he is down house hunting in Boca.
“Whether he goes to LSU, or USC, or anywhere, I can’t imagine that Lane is going to spend the rest of his career, or even 10 years at Ole Miss building a program. I think somewhere in him, is this desire to ultimately overcome Saban. I think the one job that if he were to ever plant and stay for a long time would be if he could get Alabama. My fun kind of hypothetical scenario is Lane gets the LSU job, wins the national championship, and then Saban retires. Lane jilts LSU and goes to Alabama because he ultimately wants to be the guy that sits in Nick Saban’s chair.”
The entire show with Smithmier can be listened to here or below. He further discusses Tennessee’s program dealing with looming NCAA sanctions, Heupel’s connections to Oklahoma and Utah and how his tenure with the Vols parallels Dennis Franhione’s at Alabama.
