Tennessee football: Craig Fitzgerald departure could be a huge loss for Vols

After two years as Tennessee football’s strength and conditioning coach, Craig Fitzgerald is leaving the Volunteers. Here is why he may be a huge loss.

Amidst all the staff changes that hit Tennessee football in the offseason, the Vols may have suffered their worst one in a non-position coach. Strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald confirmed on Twitter that he would be joining the New York Giants staff.

Fitzgerald, who joined the Vols after four years with the Houston Texans and six years working under Bill O’Brien, was hired by Jeremy Pruitt to toughen up the program. That was something that was desperately needed after Butch Jones.

Remember, in Pruitt’s first spring, the Vols had nearly 30 players sidelined or limited due to injuries. Butch Jones’ final two years saw players go down all the time, to the point that he had no depth up front on either side of the ball.

That traces back to the end of the 2015 season, when Dave Lawson parted ways with Rocky Top due to differences with Jones. Associate Director Michael Szerszen then handled the duties, but there was no director in 2016. Jones, realizing he made a huge mistake, then brought in Rock Gullickson in 2017. It didn’t get better.

So when Pruitt took over and brought in Fitzgerald, he had to toughen up the guys before anything else. Pruitt even talked about players needing to learn how to practice the right way, and there were numerous reports, including this one by Mike Griffith on an NFL scout, of anonymous football insiders ranting about how soft the program was under Jones.

Well, two years later, Fitzgerald has done his job. Think about his accomplishments. He was involved in managing Trey Smith and the blood clots in his lungs, and Smith has been able to remain in shape and be effective despite those issues.

In addition to Smith, Baylen Buchanan, who had a spinal disease not related to conditioning, was back at spring practice last week getting ready for his fifth-year senior season. That’s another remarkable turnaround.

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Beyond his miracle work getting guys with pre-existing conditions back into football shape, Tennessee football has seen a dramatic reduction in injuries over the past two years. Sure, there were freak incidents that hit Emmit Gooden and Trevon Flowers this past year. Jordan Allen also struggled to see action.

Overall, though, the number has consistently been less than five. As a result, Fitzgerald oversaw the biggest part of the improvement on Rocky Top, which was the team being able to keep its best players on the field and build a level of depth.

With him now leaving, Pruitt has to make another huge hire. And if it doesn’t work out, all the work that went into building up this program could go out the window. Strength and conditioning coaches are proven to be a big deal.

It’s worth noting that Fitzgerald joins Kevin Sherrer, who also left his position as UT’s inside linebackers coach to also take a role with the Giants under new head coach Joe Judge. Former Vols head coach Derek Dooley is also on that staff.

What’s clear, though, is Pruitt has some work ahead of him. We don’t know how the schedule of things works out when this coronavirus outbreak finally passes over, but Tennessee football has summer workouts coming soon. The last thing they can afford is to not have a quality strength coach during that time. They are deeper, but not deep enough for that yet.