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Tennessee football: Last four seasons Jeremy Pruitt entered second year in role

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt leads the Vols for 2019. Here are the last four seasons the Volunteers’ leader was in his second year in a role.

Coming off a 5-7 season his first year as Tennessee football head coach, there are plenty of people curious about the level of improvement Jeremy Pruitt’s second team will see. After all, the Vols were a program on fire when he took them over.

Improvement is certainly expected, especially given the fact that Pruitt doesn’t have to completely undo practice habits like he did last year, and the team is more acclimated to the pro-style offense and 3-4 defense. So these are things Vols fans can be encouraged about.

However, will it be enough to translate into a much better season? After all, Tennessee football will need results if people are going to remain as excited about Phillip Fulmer’s hire to replace Butch Jones.

This isn’t the first time Pruitt has entered a second season in a new role, though. He was obviously a five-year defensive coordinator at three different schools. On top of that, though, he was a three-year defensive backs coach and a three-year off-field assistant coach at one school.

Now, this is Pruitt’s second overall season not just as a head coach with the Vols but as a head coach in general. That applied to some of these other roles we’re discussing at different times as well, though.

The only unique instance is his first year as a defensive coordinator was with the Florida State Seminoles, and it was also his most impressive job. He didn’t stay with them a second year. But he’s done that every other time.

So let’s look back in history and see how his teams have fared with him getting a little more experience doing something. Maybe it will give us a bit of insight into 2019. This is a look at the last four seasons Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt was in his second year in a role.

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