I know a lot of you are thinking it. I'll just say it.

[Black Diamond Vol]

Pruitt isn't going to cut it here.

To be clear, I'm not calling for his head yet. He'll get three years no matter what. But I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that this time in 2020, we'll be looking at another Schiano Sunday.

Look, I don't expect to beat bammer, UGA, or even UF right now. I'm not even THAT mad that our staff is often getting out-schemed. Pruitt is a first time HC, and we signed up for those kinds of growing pains when we hired him. But the fact that he can't motivate his players for a soft November slate is unforgivable.  It would be one thing if they played hard and just came up short. But these past two weeks, the players looked like they were ready to phone it in and call it a season- like they didn't even want to be there. It's a similar trait that we saw in Butch's, Dooley's, and even Fulmer's later teams.

Say what you want about Johnny Majors- but his teams ALWAYS finished strong. Even if the season was a lost cause. Even after an 0-6 start in 1988. It didn't matter- his teams put away the opponents they were supposed to in November. Always. No matter what happened in the first six games, we could always count on that 4-0 or 5-0 finish. I want to get back to that.

A new HC taking over at a struggling program isn't going to set the world on fire right away- I get that. But step one in instilling a winning culture is motivating your players. That's something I don't see right now. I saw the same warning signs with our previous couple of coaches, and we all know how those turned out.

[JeffCountyVolFan]

I'm not yet ready to announce my belief that CJP can't bring this program back. I'm not sure if CJP will be successful at UT or not, but I'm sure that we all hope that he is.

I do know that changing the culture of an athletic program is a difficult task. It can take years, depending on the talent levels and the personalities of the people involved.  Any coaching staff that successfully steps into our program is going to have his hands full in that regard. We are in the basement of the SEC in football and their are a lot of steps to climb to get out of that situation.

This team is difficult to understand and evaluate, I think. None of us really know the dynamics at play with the attitudes on this team but I suspect that there are a lot of frontrunner mentality individuals on this team that fold at the first sign of adversity. Dealing with that while still trying to be competitive can be a grueling task.

I'm not saying that Pruitt did a great job in year 1, although 5 wins is about what I thought this team was destined to achieve. Recruiting and next year's improvement level will tell us much more about what kind of football coach we have, I think. Let's all hope that both show significant advancement.

[Tnphil]

The motivation I saw out of us today would be the same motivation you'd see out of someone walking that long hallway to the electric chair. I was very disappointed in how the entire team looked today....Getting your ass beat is one thing but not looking like you care is another.

Pruitt has a looooong way to go....JMO, but I think in his college coaching career he's dealt with highly rated, talent out the butt players that he didn't have to motivate and he's not real good right now at taking lesser talent and making them play above their head. Mason at Vandy has done that....His 2 stars today took us to the woodshed.

We just better hope Pruitt improves...sees his weaknesses on his staff and corrects it.......And recruit players. I hope what the recruits saw the past 2 weeks doesn't make them look elsewhere. Today was as bad as I've seen and in game 12 it should have been better.

[JeffCountyVolFan]

I think in his college coaching career he's dealt with highly rated, talent out the butt players that he didn't have to motivate and he's not real good right now at taking lesser talent and making them play above their head. Mason at Vandy has done has done that....His 2 stars today took us to the woodshed.

I would agree that this is very likely. I would even go on to bet that as a high school coach he had top level talent.

We just better hope Pruitt improves...sees his weaknesses on his staff and corrects it.......And recruit players. I hope what the recruits saw the past 2 weeks doesn't make them look elsewhere. Today was as bad as I've seen and in game 12 it should have been better.

Everything here is 100% accurate imo.

[VinnieVOL]

One year ain't enough to say Pruitt isn't the guy.  I know we're all pissed, but it's just too soon to know that.

[wtkvol]

To make a decision on Pruitt at this time is silly. This collection of players do not have enough talent to compete.. And even less desire to compete. They proved that the last two years.

[BanditVol]

A few counter points. The November slate Majors faced was far softer. The last time Kentucky was rated as high as this season was 1984 and in fact Majors lost to them.  Vandy 2018 also much better than Vandy 1977 through 1992. And Missouri, even though I have disparaged them, is much better than Ole Miss 77 through 91.

[BanditVol]

Having said that, I thought the last two games were a disaster and could have been much better. Missouri is better than Vandy so yesterday was worse.

Sabans first team at bama and Kirby's first year also did not go well. But they both immediately recruited very well and we may not have that advantage.

[BanditVol]

As for yesterday's effort, I thought it wasn't that bad till the 4th quarter. We definitely gave up then. Thought the effort up to that point was adequate though not outstanding.

I thought what killed us was lack of execution on offense. Offense was as bad as it has been all year and there is no excuse for that.

[JeffCountyVolFan]

I'm afraid that this Justin Martin tweet maybe gives a good representation of what is wrong with a lot of players on our current roster. "It wasn't or fault."

https://twitter.com/elite_made/status/1066514185545224192?s=12

Changing the culture and the talent level is going to be a major task, no matter who is the head coach. What I think is absolutely true is that both have to change for the UT football program to get back where it belongs.

[BanditVol]

Finally as for the future, who knows. I'm encouraged by Kentucky and Auburn but the last two are discouraging. I'm going to hope that's a hangover from last season that will be overcome next year.

It's going to take more than three years no matter who the coach is, so if we are at least in the running in 2020 then maybe Pruitt gets another year or two. Depends on the exact circumstances.

[BanditVol]

I'm afraid that this Justin Martin tweet maybe gives a good representation of what is wrong with a lot of players on our current roster. "It wasn't or fault."

https://twitter.com/elite_made/status/1066514185545224192?s=12

Changing the culture and the talent level is going to be a major task, no matter who is the head coach. What I think is absolutely true is that both have to change for the UT football program to get back where it belongs.

Kind of a sad attitude. Players should want to win no matter what the fans do or say.

[Black Diamond Vol]

To reiterate, I'm not calling for him to be fired yet. But the day Pruitt was hired, I felt that he was just more of the same. And I've seen nothing so far to change my mind. We've been through this all before, and we know how it ends.

[Tnphil]

To reiterate, I'm not calling for him to be fired yet. But the day Pruitt was hired, I felt that he was just more of the same. And I've seen nothing so far to change my mind. We've been through this all before, and we know how it ends.

I think that's where most UT fans are.....Yesterday didn't change that opinion. I just hope yesterday didn't hurt the recruits we are trying to get.

[BanditVol]

Yeah, is this an improvement over 2012 (first Butch year).  I think so.   The two "good" wins were collectively better than anything Butch did and Pruitt met my expectations of 5-7 in spite of a very tough schedule.  But it's not a big improvement.

And BDV to address your more of the same comment, I firmly believe that Pruitt is a better coach than Butch in two areas....player development and especially game day coaching. 

My concern is that he might not be a big upgrade.  Where Butch's ceiling was 8 regular season wins, Pruitt's might be 9? 

I do know I am going to root very hard for him the next two years, because he's what we got.

[Creek Walker]

Was Pruitt's first season better than Butch's first season? I think that's very debatable. He had the two quality wins against ranked opponents, which was impressive...Butch had one win over a similarly-ranked South Carolina team. The Gamecocks were No. 11 at the time, if I remember correctly. But Pruitt got blown out in more games...we had six losses of 25+ points this season, which is unacceptable. I don't think the roster that Pruitt inherited is any worse than the roster Butch inherited.

I do agree that Pruitt can likely develop players better than Butch did. I think he's much more of an Xs and Os football coach than Butch was. He understands the game. Butch didn't. Butch understood how to be the CEO of a program, at least to some degree, but it was on his assistants to actually teach the game and he wasn't able to surround himself with very good people...and even when he did (Shoop), it somehow turned into disaster.

My biggest concern with Pruitt at this point is exactly what his critics have been pointing to all season. I didn't agree with them early on. Now I do. This team played with very little motivation. In hindsight, it was obvious at various points during the season. But it was painfully obvious these last two games. The same business-like approach that Pruitt brings to his obligatory media/fan appearances (okay, that's putting it mildly; he clearly is irritated by it and doesn't want to be bothered by it) appears to transfer to his team on gamedays. I don't care what kind of roster you've inherited, or what kind of roster you recruit, one of the biggest challenges as a head coach in any sport at any level is to motivate your team to play ball. These are college men but they're still kids for all intent and purposes and you gotta find ways to push the right buttons to make them go.

At this point, I'm inclined to believe that Pruitt is a very good position coach...but probably not a very good head coach. But he has two more years (at least) to prove himself, for better or for worse.

[RockinGrannyVol]

I read an article, posted soon after the loss on Saturday, which was quickly pulled down -- that article stated that several of the players skipped out of practices and basically wrote off the Vandy game because they didn't want the extra practices to go to the Liberty Bowl.    As I said, it was quickly pulled -----  if true, it says a lot for the attitude of Jones' players left on the roster.  I believe that, if not for lack of depth and having no choice, these players would have been sitting the bench this year because of their attitude.    I thought Dooley left us in horrible shape, but I believe that Butch left us in worse shape and I personally feel I have to give Pruitt 4 years to completely rebuild this team from scratch.    I don't expect much better next year, but the following year I expect to start seeing big changes.    We shall see...….my neighbor, huge GA fan, says Pruitt was not popular at UGA -- I write that up to bs for now.   

Only time will tell -- we shall see.   For myself, I'm all Vol, always --- as are all of you.....but it's been a tough stretch and I'm ready to get our program back where it should be.


 

[Volznut]

The thing is I don't think we were "supposed to" beat Vandy, UK, or Mizzou - we did beat one of them. That is how low the program has gotten, we were underdogs in each of those games.

Let's face it we're not the UT of the 90s. The program has to be rebuilt - not just the team.

I have no idea is Pruitt can do it, it is a monumental task.

[JeffCountyVolFan]

In my opinion, Butch left a roster with a lot of lazy, entitled individualists who could give a fiddler's fart about winning if it involves work. 

I'll take less talented, hard-working individuals any day of the week.

[volsboy]

Pruitt better get on the recruiting trail and get a QB who can start from day one as a frosh. Whether you like him or not. JG is not a servicable SEC QB. Hope the Mauer kid is the real deal. His team was not good. They were 2-8 and were blown out in about all their games. So that does not instill confidence in Mauer. Or maybe Pruitt can get another game changer on the recruiting trail. Seems like a lot of other schools can get freshman qb's who can make a difference from the get go. Plus. as much as I hate to admit it, we need to get an uptempo spread'em kind of offense. Hell, even Saban has broken down and adopted it. Hence, Pruitt needs to recruit athletes that are appropriate to this type of system. Oh yeah....hire an OC that knows this type offense. Then recruit good players on both sides of the ball. That's not asking too much..is it?