What a difference a year makes. This time last year, Jeremy Pruitt and the Volunteers were riding a high of winning their last six games, including a miraculous come from behind win in the Gator Bowl over Indiana. Now, Volunteers fans and the media are beginning to wonder when the hammer will fall on Jeremy Pruitt's tenure on Rocky Top.
If a 3-7 season wasn't bad enough, that saw losses to a mediocre Kentucky, an Arkansas team with a first year head coach, it was announced during the season finale against Texas A&M, that there is possibly a chance NCAA investigators will come calling.
For those of you who don't know, let me catch you up:
Shortly before the game against Texas A&M, Jeremy Pruitt announced that star running back, Eric Gray would not be available for the game. Pruitt did not give an explanation as to why, other than to say he wasn't available. After the game started, the story broke that Tennessee was doing an internal investigation into allegations of recruiting violations. After the game when asked if Eric Gray was held out due to this investigation, Pruitt again said, "He was unavailable."
These alleged recruiting violations are supposed to include current members of the Tennessee roster, recruits, assistand coaches, student volunteers and other athletics department officials involved in football recruiting, as well as the recruitment of offensive lineman Amarius Mims, by linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer. Mims went on to sign with Georgia. in December.
This week, it was announced that Tennessee has hired Kansas City-based attorney, Mike Glazier to help with the investigation and assist the in-house counsel. Glazier worked for seven years on the NCAA's enforcement staff. Ironically, he assisted in the probe of Tennessee's athletic department in 2011 that led to the school firing Bruce Pearl. He also has represented the University of Louisville during multiple investigations into their men's basketball program, as well as representing UNLV and helping them avoid the death penalty for rules violations stemming from the recruitment of Lamar Odom in 1997.
Now that you are all caught up, I'm sure you are asking, "What does this all have to do with Jeremy Pruitt? After all, his name hasn't been mentioned in any of the violations."
It's simple. The University of Tennessee is looking into how they can fire Jeremy Pruitt with cause, so they do not have to pay any buyout. If they do fire him without cause, then he is owed $12.7 million. This would explain why Mark Schlabach is reporting that Tennessee has put a freeze on any contract extensions with the current staff and not allowing Pruitt to fill the two vacancies on his staff.
Now as I would expect from any fan of any team, in any sport, if you are going to call for the head coach to be fired, you must have a candidate or two in mind to replace him. With that being said, here is who I think should be a serious candidate:
Tom Herman
Tennessee got lucky and caught lightning in the bottle when Texas fired Rick Barnes. Could lightning strike twice if Tennessee hired Tom Herman? I think so. In four years at Texas, Herman went 32-18. He did not have a losing season in Austin. In fact, in two seasons at Houston prior to taking over the Longhorns, he went 22-4. Herman is 45 years old and a member of MENSA, which means he is young and incredibly smart. Hiring him would be a no-brainer for me.
Jamey Chadwell
Chadwell went 11-1 this year at Coastal Carolina, which won him the AP Coach of the Year Award. He is the hottest name right now and is tied to any job that comes open. I honestly thought he was going to be the top target for South Carolina, before they hired Shane Beamer (that hire still puzzles me). His name was also mentioned with the Vanderbilt opening before they hired Clark Lea. One thing that would be hard to sell to Tennessee fans is his record is only 79-52. However, I have always said it is going to take a Tennessee guy to turn around the Tennessee program. Jamey Chadwell was born and raised in Caryville, Tennessee, which is 45 minutes from Knoxville and he went to college at East Tennessee State. Chadwell was my number one choice before Texas parted ways with Herman.
Billy Napier
If you want a Tennessee guy to fix the Tennessee program, then take a look at Billy Napier. The current head coach at University of Louisiana was born in Cookeville, Tennessee. He is in his second year at Lousiana, posting a 28-11 record. Hardest thing to sell Tennessee fans is the Louisiana job is his only head coaching experience. Last time Tennessee hired a football coach from the state of Louisiana with only two years of head coaching experience, was Derek Dooley. However, Napier does have a pedigree that does make him attractive. He was the offensive coordinator at Clemson under Dabo Swinney and the wide receivers coach at Alabama under Nick Saban. He was the offensive coordinator for Herm Edwards at Arizona State before he left there to take the Louisiana job. Napier is definitely a name to watch if Pruitt is let go.
Luke Fickell
The current head coach at the University of Cincinnati has a 35-14 record in four seasons there. While he is a solid, young coach, I don't think he is the right choice for Tennessee. Outside of one year as the interim coach at Ohio State, where he went 6-7, the only other head coaching experience he has is at Cincinnati. I think the lack of a coaching resume is what will keep Fickell from getting the job at Tennessee. Plus the last guy you hired from Cincinnati was Butch Jones.
Gus Malzahn
Auburn fired Gus Gus on December 10 after a 6-4 season and consistently delivering what was deemed "underachieving and underwhelming" results. The record speaks for itself. In eight seasons on The Plains, Malzahn went 68-35. His worst year at Auburn was in 2015 when Auburn went 7-6 with a bowl win. That's right. Even being in the same division as Nick Saban, Malzahn never had a losing season. He has an appearance in a national championship game and a decent record against Saban. While he would be an interesting hire, bringing him in means you are going to have to change the offense yet again.
Now that the serious candidates are out of the way, here are other names that have been mentioned:
Hugh Freeze
No! No! No! The fanatical side of the Tennessee fan base wants Freeze to be the next head coach. I say fanatical side of the fan base, because you have to be crazy if you think he is going to be the next head coach on Rocky Top. Tennessee is staring down the barrel of a major NCAA investigation. Why in the hell would Fulmer hire Hugh Freeze, who was just fired from Ole Miss not 4 years ago for recruiting and academic violations? I think Fulmer's job could be on the line with this hire, and making a deal with the devil is not the way to go.
Jeff Fischer
This one came out of left field. The former Tennessee Titans head coach has not coached since 2016 and has never coached in college. However, the 62-year old Fisher went on The George Plaster Show in Nashville on Friday and said, "If, for some reason Pruitt is no longer the head coach at the University of Tennessee, yes, I would have a great deal if interest in that program." It is hard for me to tell if Fischer's interest was tongue-in-cheek or if he was being serious. Either way, I don't think this would be a great hire, and Fulmer would have a very hard time selling it to the fan base.
Phillip Fulmer
The football program is at an all time low. The decline started in 2010 when Lane Kiffin left in the middle of the night to take the USC job. Mike Hamilton scrambled to find a head coach and the rest is history. Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and now Jeremy Pruitt. The program has gone through four head coaches since Phillip Fulmer was fired after only his second losing season in 16 years as the head coach. If Fulmer's job as athletics director is on the line with this hire, then I say let him do the coaching. Allow him to go out on his own terms this time and maybe lift whatever curse was placed on this program when Mike Hamilton fired him in 2008. The man knows how to coach. He went 152-52 with a national championship and two SEC championships. If Tennessee wants to get back to the promise land. Maybe it needs to turn to the coach that got them there, and let him finish the job this time.
It doesn't matter if it is Pruitt, any coach I mentioned or someone I didn't mention, it is time for Tennessee football to get on the right path and put the program back at the top of not only the SEC, but the top of college football.
