Tennessee football: Public quotes suggest Vols wronged Robert Gillespie

Tennessee football and Robert Gillespie parted ways Tuesday. But comments from Phillip Fulmer indicate Jeremy Pruitt and the Volunteers did him wrong.

Let’s be clear about a few things before I get started on this. We don’t know all the details as to why Robert Gillespie and Tennessee football parted ways. At the same time, I have no problem with Jeremy Pruitt wanting to fill his staff with his guys.

And, despite his success, if we’re being honest, Chris Weinke probably is a hire with even more upside for the Vols than Gillespie. All of those things are true, and we need to get him out of the way.

However, if Pruitt was planning on getting rid of Gillespie all along and waited until a week after National Signing Day to do it, he was very unfair to Gillespie. Given Phillip Fulmer’s public comments as of recent, that’s what it seems like.

The Vols’ athletic director said on Wednesday at the Big Orang TipOff Club, the day after the separation, that Gillespie “didn’t like” the decision. His exact quote, documented by Mike Wilson of the Knoxville News Sentinel, seems to make it pretty clear that Gillespie was terminated.

"“This is a big boy’s business,” Fulmer said. “He understood. He was very professional. We talked yesterday. It was simply a matter of coach (Jeremy) Pruitt doing what he thought was right for his program and Robert.“Robert was fine. Robert is OK. He didn’t like it, I’m not saying that. But he’s OK. He understood. It’s a big boy business.”"

What Fulmer said there is all fine and dandy. It is a big boy’s business. And sometimes you have to cut players, let players go, and maybe bend the rules where you can. Heck, Nick Saban does that all the time.

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But, again, given what we know, it seems like Pruitt just made the decision to part ways with him this week. And that is completely unfair.

Gillespie is now out of a job and is now searching for one with numerous positions already filled. If Pruitt had made this decision the way he made so many others back in December, Gillespie easily could have found another landing spot.

Significantly worse coaches from Butch Jones’s staff were able to find jobs because of that. Brady Hoke was able to go to the Carolina Panthers. Charlton Warren and Larry Scott were able to go to the Florida Gators. Mike Canales was able to go to the UTEP Miners.

Bob Shoop isn’t significantly worse, but he should still be mentioned. Pruitt was fair to him, so he was able to land a job with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Everywhere you look, Tennessee football assistants under Jones with nowhere near Gillespie’s success were able to land elsewhere. That’s because Pruitt let them go at a reasonable time.

Gillespie, meanwhile, stayed on. We all praised Pruitt for making him the sole holdover from the staff. However, as we were doing that, it appears that this departure was brewing for a while. At least that’s what Tony Basilio suggested on Tuesday.

Multiple sources tell me Robert Gillespie was terminated and that this has been brewing for a while. #Vols
— Tony Basilio (@TonyBasilio) February 13, 2018

However, even if that’s the case, Fulmer’s quotes make it clear Gillespie didn’t like the dismissal. So if it was brewing for a while, it was on Pruitt’s side. And at that point, he should have made the decision to let him go in December to be fair to him.

Why did he keep him around? A possible explanation is so bad that I feel uncomfortable making it here. But it’s one that would make sense.

What if Pruitt wanted to keep Gillespie around because he was building relationships between Tennessee football and many of the recruits? And then, what if his plan, as a result, was to always keep him until after National Signing Day and lead him to believe he would stay on so he could continue recruiting?

If that’s the case, it demonstrates extremely poor character on Pruitt’s part. That is just speculation, but I can’t think of another explanation given the information we have.

Now, going forward, this may not be the worst thing for Gillespie. After all, this happened to Jay Graham five years ago under Butch Jones. And he immediately found a job with the Florida State Seminoles, won a national title, and has been with Jimbo Fisher ever since. But it’s still unfair to the coaches to do this.

Next: 5 Vols 2018 recruits who could contribute early

Robert Gillespie was a very good coach for Tennessee football and very loyal to the program. The Vols may have found an upgrade in Chris Weinke. And it was fair to let Gillespie go. However, based on the public information that we have, the situation was very poorly handled. And Gillespie was done wrong.

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Tennessee football: Public comments indicate Vols wronged Robert Gillespie

By Caleb Calhoun | Feb 15, 2018

Tennessee football and Robert Gillespie parted ways Tuesday. But comments from Phillip Fulmer indicate Jeremy Pruitt and the Volunteers did him wrong.