KNOXVILLE — Jeremy Pruitt made changes to his coaching staff following a Week 4 loss to Kentucky, relieving Jimmy Brumbaugh of his duties.
Pruitt’s change stems from a philosophical difference between him and Brumbaugh. Brumbaugh served as co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach in four games this season for Tennessee. He was hired in February after being in the same capacity at Colorado last season.
“I decided to make a change at the d-line position,” Pruitt said following the Kentucky game. “Coach Brumbaugh has done a really nice job for us. He worked his tail off. Sometimes from a philosophical standpoint, things are just not a fit and it just didn’t work out for us, so I decided to do that, and I’m going to coach the defensive line for the rest of the season.”
Tennessee operates with Pruitt calling plays for the Vols’ defensive line and linebackers.
Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley adjusts his calls to the secondary based on what Pruitt signals. This allows for Pruitt, a defensive mastermind, to call the unit accordingly.
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In an overview, if Pruitt makes calls for linebackers and defensive linemen, and Ansley adjusts to the secondary based off what the third-year head coach does, this is an example of Brumbaugh having philosophical differences with the scheme. Within the system, Pruitt can ultimately overrule the defensive line, as well as the inside and outside linebacker coaches, and ultimately the secondary if needed.
Last year at Colorado, Brumbaugh worked alongside Reed Heim. Mel Tucker was head coach for Colorado who left for Michigan State, paving a way for guys such as Brumbaugh and Heim to go in a different direction.
For Heim, he had an opportunity to join Tucker’s Michigan State program. He decided to stay at home in Texas with the coronavirus pandemic ongoing and is currently serving as defensive coordinator at Guyer High School.
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Heim discussed the Buffaloes’ defensive staff that included Tucker, Tyson Summers and Brumbaugh. Tucker did not call plays, as Summers, Colorado’s primary defensive coordinator, strictly had the responsibility.
Heim discussed his experience last season coaching in the Pac-12 and differences that Brumbaugh saw from Colorado’s staff and Tennessee’s in 2020.
“In those meetings, when you are game-planning, it was the type of environment where not only can you, but you are encouraged to say what you believe and if you have an idea or a thought – it was very much that,” Heim said of coaching at Colorado on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” “We ground through the tape and looked at the defenses that we had and worked hard to put a game plan together.
“Unless you feel really convicted about making sure that more than one person is calling it, for me personally as a coordinator, at the end of the day, there has to be continuity of how you are calling a game. What teams are trying to do to you, you know the answers to that. That’s where you spend all week putting that together as a staff, but if you go out, and you call and might say I like this or this, what do you guys like, somebody may interject, but ultimately one guy is going to be calling it. That’s the way it was last year – it would be difficult to be the guy calling the front and somebody else is calling the backend.”
With Pruitt being a defensive mind and having his own principles, along with having success in his own system over time, this is where differences occurred as Brumbaugh was not accustomed in how Tennessee approached games.
Ultimately, in the end, Brumbaugh was relieved of his duties.
“It’s different when the head coach knows the defense, in and out, all of the little things,” Heim said of Tennessee and Pruitt. “That’s the system that he knows and he believes in – the head coach says run his play whether it’s offense or defense – if you like your job then you are going to do it.”
The entire show with Heim can be listened to here or below.