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Tennessee fires Jeremy Pruitt for cause, Fulmer to step down as AD, Josh Heupel hired

Machinator

By Machinator
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  • Machinator changed the title to Tennessee expected to part ways with Jeremy Pruitt
Machinator

Machinator 32102

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As had been suspected for quite some time now, Tennessee football is dumping Jeremy Pruitt after three seasons. Pruitt, the hand-picked choice of former Vols coach-turned-AD Phil Fulmer, went 16-19 in his time at Tennessee. His tenure was low-lighted by a 3-7 record this season that included a blowout home loss to Kentucky, a double-digit loss to a rebuilding Arkansas team in under first-year coach Sam Pittman, and being dominated in just about every second half played.

Where Tennessee goes from here will be very interesting. The Vols’ last coaching search, the one that led Fulmer to Pruitt, was a mess of epic proportions. Now, whoever gets this job will take over a program mired in scandal and with an NCAA cloud hovering over it.

Sources tell The Athletic that Vols legend Peyton Manning will have a big role in the search process and great influence on who Tennessee’s next head coach will be.

Two months ago, the guy I thought would be the obvious choice was Liberty’s Hugh Freeze, who dreamed of the Vols head coaching job before he’d ever coached a college game. But he might be a tough sell optically given that he was fired from Ole Miss in the wake of an NCAA investigation. Would SEC commissioner Greg Sankey even allow Tennessee to touch Freeze? Probably not.

If Tennessee hired Freeze, I’m convinced he would win there. He’s wasted little time elevating Liberty, 10-1 this season, into a Top 25 program with a roster largely built on FCS recruits. He is a terrific offensive coach and play-caller who did beat Nick Saban and Alabama back-to-back seasons. That seems almost impossible in the SEC these days.

Louisiana’s Billy Napier, a 41-year-old Tennessee native, has done a terrific job in the Sun Belt. He’s gone 21-4 in the past two seasons at Louisiana, developing a winning culture for the Ragin’ Cajuns and has learned well from his time under Nick Saban at Alabama. Napier has plucked a bunch of well-regarded assistants and given them the tools and atmosphere to thrive in. They kicked off the 2020 season by beating an eventual top-10 Iowa State team by 17 points in Ames. It’s easy to see why the Vols would want Napier, but he has turned down some other opportunities in the SEC that probably weren’t as messy as this one is now.

Another Sun Belt coach whose stock has really risen this year is Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell, a Tennessee native. He’s taken the Chanticleers from 3-9 in his debut season to 5-7 last year to 11-1. Chadwell is beloved by folks who have been around him, who see him as a family-oriented, second-generation coach. He’s won everywhere he’s been and has strong ties throughout the region.

The Vols have struggled on offense for a while, and Chadwell would have that part covered. He has a unique system, basing a lot of plays out of 20 and 21 personnel groupings, as opposed to most teams relying on 11 and 10 personnel, and pairing them with all sorts of option and RPO concepts. Chadwell has never worked at a Power 5 program in any capacity, but he’s proven to be an excellent gameday coach and would seem like a good fit for the Vols.

Buffalo’s Lance Leipold has no ties to the region, but he wins everywhere he goes. He won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He left for Buffalo, one of the toughest places to win in college football, and he has kept on winning. By his fourth season, UB was 10-4. The Bulls are 24-10 the past three years, and he keeps finding and developing big-time players.

The Vanderbilt brass really liked Leipold but ultimately couldn’t pass up Nashville native and former Commodores player Clark Lea. Would the fact that Vandy didn’t go for Leipold deter the Vols? Maybe. I’m not sure folks around Tennessee would see this as a great fit, but they’ve gambled on much lesser coaches with whom they felt more comfort, and it’s gotten them nowhere.

Another Group of 5 coach who may end up on the Vols’ radar is Charlotte’s Will Healy. The 35-year-old Chattanooga native won the Eddie Robinson Award and the Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year award for his amazing work in-state at Austin Peay. He parlayed that into the job at Charlotte, where he’s 9-10 in two seasons at a place that had won just 12 games in the previous four seasons. Whether Healy is ready for this job at this point in his career is a question, but this coaching search could get pretty unwieldy.

One Power 5 possibility would be Louisville’s Scott Satterfield, who had a big first season with the Cardinals but struggled in Year 2, going 4-7. I’m not sure Satterfield would be tempted by the Vols job considering the shape it’s in right now and the strong resources at Louisville. That said, the former Appalachian State head coach does have a rocky situation with Cards brass in the wake of his dialogue with South Carolina when that job was open.

There is one non-head coach we think Tennessee might consider: Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott is one of the top assistant coaches in college football. He’s won a Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant, and you could see how much the Tigers missed him against Ohio State last week when he was unable to coach in the game due to COVID-19. Elliott was someone South Carolina wanted to talk to for its coaching search, but he declined interest in the Tigers’ arch-rival. Would he listen if Tennessee reached out to him? We’re not sure at this point.

One wild card option for the Vols could be former Texans and Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien, who sources have told The Athletic is in line to become the new offensive coordinator at Alabama. The 51-year-old Massachusetts native went 15-9 in his two seasons with the Nittany Lions, taking over a program that had been rocked by the Jerry Sandusky scandal and hammered by NCAA sanctions. O’Brien had a winning record in the NFL, going 52-48 in seven seasons. We hear that some very influential Tennessee people are interested in O’Brien.

 

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Katfid54

Katfid54 9005

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48 minutes ago, Machinator said:

 

Ubben is such a choach. 

Those are extremely reasonable hourly rates.  Also, at an average rate of $437.5/hour, it would take those attorneys collectively billing more than twenty nine thousand hours before legal fees exceed Pruitt's buyout.

Edited by Katfid54
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ButtFumble

ButtFumble 5246

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well they hired Texas retread Rick Barnes that was always just this ---> <--- close and they seem happy being the only ranked mens BB program in the SEC SEC SEC that will never win it all and will bow out of the tournament after a game or two every year.......being content with that you would think Tom would be the #1 guy

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GabrielsHorn

GabrielsHorn 2242

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Building on this, looks like this is why UGA might be feeling some heat as well. From ESPN.

Quote

Sources told ESPN that Tennessee's recruitment of Amarius Mims, the No. 3 offensive tackle and No. 19 player overall in the 2021 ESPN 300 rankings, is part of the inquiry. Mims signed with Georgia.

https://247sports.com/player/amarius-mims-46079928/

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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 25654

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Is it possible Tennessee is ready to try it again.  No not coaches, they have done that plenty but what they haven't done is make a good faith attempt to break ranks with the SEC on staying silent about the crooting practices of your conference mates since Fat Phil's efforts in the early aughts.  

 

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taybo20

taybo20 3008

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1 hour ago, Bevo14 said:

uh they sure about that? They could probably get Mensa or Malzahn on the cheap. Oh well, they better  at least make sure to hire a "QB kneel" coordinator.

It would be great if Malzahn was hired at Tennessee and Steele had to relinquish the HC title to him lol

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12612

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1 hour ago, Katfid54 said:

Ubben is such a choach. 

Those are extremely reasonable hourly rates.  Also, at an average rate of $437.5/hour, it would take those attorneys collectively billing more than twenty nine thousand hours before legal fees exceed Pruitt's buyout.

Ubben is a Mizzou alum who went out of his way to hate ISU when he was the Big 12 blogger.  Refusing to go to Ames and always throwing shade.  WRNL responded with a long running joke that his odd proportions would yield some tender meat, and maybe Ubben should be cannibalized.

https://www.widerightnattylite.com/2013/8/14/4614748/where-have-you-been-david

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Edited by Al_4_ISU
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