NASHVILLE — If there is one thing that has become clear in the past decade with Tennessee football, it’s that it has more twists and turns than a daytime soap opera.
The latest twist came Monday morning when it was reported that Jeremy Pruitt had been fired with cause by the University of Tennessee and that Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer would be “retiring” at when his replacement was found.
Pruitt’s firing is not a surprise. There has been an investigation around the football program since mid-November and signs were pointing to Pruitt’s future at Tennessee being very much in jeopardy. The fact that Tennessee was able to fire him with cause and avoid paying his buyout of $12.6 million leads you to believe that whatever the “Level 1” and “Level 2” violations that have been found here are very substantial. It will be interesting to see whether or not Pruitt’s legal representatives seek payment.
The Fulmer “retirement” reads to me like more of a courtesy announcement rather than going about firing him as well. It’s hard for me to believe that he’s all of the sudden gung-ho on retirement when he just signed a contract extension that ran through 2023.
It’s been one long ride of ineptitude and disfunction for more than a decade in Knoxville.
The press conference that took place Monday after noon with Fulmer, Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman and University President Randy Boyd was nothing short of a disaster. Fulmer referred to the recruiting being “good” in a press conference that came about because the head coach was being fired due to recruiting violations and it was almost too incredible to believe. Fulmer looked SO uncomfortable the entire time.
There was no comment on specifically what happened. There was no timeline on when exactly the investigation would be completed. There was no plan on when the hiring process for replacements would take place. It looked like three people who wanted to get up there and sell that Tennessee is a place of high integrity where student athletes should want to attend. And the simple fact of the matter is that is complete hogwash. That football program is a complete, unmitigated disaster.
So, what happens now? Plowman made it clear in the press conference that the hiring of a new athletics director will take first priority before a coaching search is launched. Kevin Steele will take over as acting head coach for Tennessee until then.
Where does Tennessee even begin to look for their next coach? Who is a proven AD candidate that’s going to be willing to try and come in and clean up this mess?
You’re going to hear a lot of names being mentioned as potential candidates for the next coach at Tennessee. You’re also going to hear a lot of Vols fans clamoring for Hugh Freeze. I can’t even begin to fathom Tennessee trying to go down that road based on the circumstances in which they just fired Pruitt. I have severe doubts that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey would even allow Tennessee to hire Freeze at this point.
If I’m Tennessee, my candidate pool is beginning with these names, in no particular order: Tom Herman, Gus Malzahn, Lane Kiffin, Tom Allen and Bill O’Brien. If none of those work out, then you can move on and start considering up-and-coming coaches. But the time has come for Tennessee football to go out and hire someone who is a proven winner.
The problem is, given what a disaster this football program currently is, that’s going to be a whole lot easier said than done. The Vols are back.
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