3. No quality candidates want to join the Tennessee football staff.
This would be the greatest fear among Vols fans. But what if Tennessee football is taking so long to make the hire because Jeremy Pruitt is consistently getting rejected by candidates he is going after? It would show how far the program has fallen.
Maybe Chip Lindsey truly preferred the Kansas Jayhawks job. Maybe Hugh Freeze preferred joining the Liberty Flames. Could Kendal Briles be looking at other offIt’ers or even just preferring to stay with the Houston Cougars?
It’s not at all crazy to think that Mike Yurcich and Eliah Drinkwitz would prefer to remain offensive coordinators of the Oklahoma State Cowboys and N.C. State Wolfpack respectively. Simply put, maybe nobody is interested in this job.
There could be plenty of reasons for this. The fan revolt of last year, the chaos in the administration, the pressure of winning at a school with no championships in 20 years, or maybe just disdain for Pruitt could all be driving people away. Pruitt’s policy of keeping assistants from talking to the media could potentially be a reason for driving people away.
What’s clear, though, is constant rejection never ends well. Derek Dooley had to settle on Sal Sunseri in 2012 because he couldn’t get a high-profile defensive coordinator. If that happens to Pruitt, he’s got to scout the right coach and not mess up. That could be hard to do, and constant rejections could be a terrible sign for the program.