If Tennessee football makes a bowl game, Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt has to be up for coach of the year. He has worked minor miracles with the Volunteers.
In his first year ever as a defensive coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt was a Broyles Award finalist. Now, in his first year as a Tennessee football head coach, talks are beginning to grow with him being a coach of the year finalist.
Now, the Vols have to do one thing before we can seriously consider that. They’ve got to win one of their final two games. Pruitt has to make sure this team is bowl eligible to be in consideration for that award.
However, if he’s able to do that, then yes, he should absolutely be considered for coach of the year. Pruitt will have worked a minor miracle getting this team to six wins, and it bodes extremely well for the future of Tennessee football.
As a result, it’s time to break down why Pruitt should be a coach of the year candidate. We have mountains of evidence that he already may have done a more impressive job than any coach in the NCAA this year. This evidence will include the work he’s done this year and combine it with what he inherited.
Even if he doesn’t make a bowl game, Pruitt is definitely coach of the year among the 17 first-year head coaches. The only two who may have a case, when you compare their record to what they inherited, are Dan Mullen with the Florida Gators and Chad Lunsford with the Georgia Southern Eagles. But Lunsford coached his team half of last year, and he’s in the Sun Belt.
So in reality, only Mullen has a case. And although he has a strong one, including a dominant win over the Vols, we’ll get to why Pruitt has done a more impressive job overall with his program with the details this post. Let’s go ahead and break it down. These are the five reasons that Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt should be considered for coach of the year.