Tennessee football: Comparing Jeremy Pruitt to other second-year SEC coaches
8-5 (4-4). 2. player. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Verdict: Worse. Jimbo Fisher. 873
Although they both went 8-5, we can honestly say the Texas A&M Aggies were better in Jimbo Fisher’s second season than Tennessee football was in Jeremy Pruitt’s second season. Just look at the schedules.
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Four of Texas A&M’s five losses came to teams in the final top 10, and all five came to teams in the top 15. They didn’t lose to any Group of Five programs. So yes, A&M was better. However, Pruitt did a better job his second season than Fisher did in his second season, and there’s really no way to deny that.
Remember, Pruitt took over a team that was 4-8 and winless in the SEC. He improved it by one game, to 5-7, in 2018. Then, in 2019, he improved it by three more games to finish 8-5 and by two more games with a 7-5 finish in the regular season.
It’s a different story for Fisher. He took a team that was 7-6 in 2017 and then improved to 9-4 in 2018. However, he regressed back to 8-5 in 2019. Given what he inherited, the state of the program and what he’s getting paid, that’s a major underachievement. It doesn’t matter that he’s running the table over teams he should be doing it against.
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Fisher was paid top dollar to beat elite teams. He didn’t do it once this year despite a preseason top 25 ranking. Nobody put UT in the top 25. As a result, while the Aggies were better than the Vols, Pruitt did a better coaching job than Fisher.