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Tennessee football: Vols’ Jeremy Pruitt similar to another great Phillip Fulmer hire

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 22: Head coach Phillip Fulmer of the Tennessee Volunteers waves to the fans as he celebrates their 20-10 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium on November 22, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 22: Head coach Phillip Fulmer of the Tennessee Volunteers waves to the fans as he celebrates their 20-10 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium on November 22, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football’s new head coach Jeremy Pruitt is similar to another great hire Volunteers athletic director Phillip Fulmer once made, David Cutcliffe.

Related Story: 5 positives to hiring Jeremy Pruitt as head coach

Looking at his time working with ETSU along with his experience on Tennessee football’s staff for 30 years, Phillip Fulmer has been hit and miss with his hires. However, his hire of Jeremy Pruitt as Vols head coach is similar to what many consider the best hire he made.

Pruitt has striking similarities to David Cutcliffe. Fulmer moved Cutcliffe to running backs coach in 1989 when he was offensive coordinator of the Vols. Cutcliffe then became quarterbacks coach in 1990. He then made the bold move to make Cutcliffe his offensive coordinator when he became full-time head coach in 1993.

Many fans credit Cutcliffe for being the driving force behind Fulmer’s major success early in his career. He secured Peyton Manning’s commitment and coached Tee Martin to lead the Vols to the national championship game in 1998. There’s no doubt the Vols saw a drop-off once he left.

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And there’s no doubt that the offense saw a major resurgence when he returned in 2006.

But what was Cutcliffe before he joined Tennessee football in 1982? Like Pruitt, he was a high school coach in the state of Alabama.

In fact, like Pruitt, he was born and raised in Alabama and went to the University of Alabama before becoming a high school coach there. Yet Cutcliffe saw his greatest success as an assistant at Tennessee.

He also had great years with the Ole Miss Rebels and is thriving with the Duke Blue Devils. Simply put, Fulmer may have found a clone in Cutcliffe just on the other side of the ball.

Tennessee football fans would be more than happy with that. Pruitt has developed a reputation as a defensive genius. That’s similar to what Cutcliffe developed on the other side of the ball.

If Pruitt can restore Tennessee football to where it was when Cutcliffe was offensive coordinator there in the 1990s, Vols fans will be more than happy. But that’s an incredibly tall order. What is clear, though, is Fulmer’s history with Alabama graduates is a good omen with Pruitt.

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