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Tennessee football: Five reasons Vols should stick with Jeremy Pruitt past 2019

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers shouts to his players from the sideline during the second quarter of their game against the Chattanooga Mockingbirds at Neyland Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers shouts to his players from the sideline during the second quarter of their game against the Chattanooga Mockingbirds at Neyland Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images) /
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4. Jeremy Pruitt and his staff need more time to gel with the players.

In addition to the excessive amounts of young talent Tennessee football is dealing with, the Vols also have to deal with a completely reshaped staff. Now, you can say that it’s Jeremy Pruitt’s fault he reshaped his staff after one year, but Tyson Helton did get a head coaching job, and Charles Kelly was hired away to a better position.

The only person Pruitt did willingly part ways with was Terry Fair. However, the attrition that allowed him to bring in Tee Martin, Jim Chaney and Derrick Ansley allowed him to also move other assistant coaches to their more natural positions. This includes Chris Weinke to quarterbacks coach, David Johnson to running backs coach and Martin taking over receivers.

Meanwhile, the secondary moved from Fair and Kelly to just Ansley. And Kevin Sherrer has moved over to special teams coach. So with four new units under new coaching and all three phases of the game under new coordinators, the Vols were naturally going to have a few more growing pains for a second straight year.

It was a long-term move for Pruitt, and he deserves to prove that it can pay off in the long-term. This wasn’t a desperate staff overhaul like what Derek Dooley did in 2012 or Butch Jones in 2017. Pruitt did an unexpected staff overhaul due to a few changes and a few opportunities. These guys still need time to gel together, and that was part of the rough start.

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