Update: Jeremy Pruitt in limbo

[gmf1369]

Former Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt reportedly has his next job nine days after being fired for cause by the program. Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports says Pruitt is finalizing a deal to head to the NFL and join the coaching staff of the New York Jets. This comes on the same day Tennessee hired Pruitt's replacement, former UCF head coach Josh Heuepel.

The former Vols coach will join first-year head coach Robert Saleh, who was officially hired by the team last week. It's unclear what Pruitt's title on the staff will be.

Pruitt was hired by Tennessee in 2017 after a chaotic coaching search led to John Currie being fired as athletic director and Fulmer being brought in to replace him. After a strong finish to the 2019 season, that momentum appeared to carry over into 2020 with the Vols getting off to a 2-0 start. However, the Volunteers promptly lost six straight games and finished the year with a mark of 3-7. Pruitt ends his tenure in Knoxville with an overall record of 16-19.

Beyond that, Pruitt and his staff were also under investigation for improper recruiting practices. After the season, Tennessee reportedly entered a hiring freeze in regards to filling any vacancies on staff and did not give any contract extensions to assistants amid a continued investigation into potential recruiting violations, per a report from ESPN's Mark Schlabach.

 

[NewMFS62]

I root for the Vols, but there always seems to be an aura around their program that yields fewer results than the talent available.
I'd rather win without playing outside the rules.
Unless they have him for a specific role (eg.- teaching pass rushing) I'm very leery of this signing.
Later

 

[LRJets]

Without being judgmental, and not knowing all the facts, I can say as a lifetime Jets fan,
they pretty much care about character.

 

[gmf1369]

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[NewMFS62]

I guess they looked into what happened in Tennessee and character counts.
Later

 

[gmf1369]

I guess they looked into what happened in Tennessee and character counts.
Later

just another bullshit reporter trying to break a story to be debunked by actual ones...

 

[gmf1369]

The issue arose when Bruce Feldman of TheAthletic.com reported that Pruitt is “working on a deal” to join the Jets. Connor Hughes of TheAthletic.com reports that Pruitt will not be joining the Jets’ coaching staff.

Ralph Vacchiano of SNY breaks the tie, reporting that Pruitt won’t be part of new coach Robert Saleh’s staff.

Based on our general understanding of how the sausage gets made, our guess is that Hughes and Vacchiano contacted the Jets after seeing Feldman’s report, and that the Jets told them that it’s not accurate.

Pruitt spent three years at Tennessee. He spent 20 years before that as an assistant coach at the college and high school level. His break came in 2007, when Nick Saban added Pruitt to the coaching staff at Alabama. he has never coached at the NFL level.

 

[Gramoah]

I knew he had no NFL experience but all the rest is news. Interesting. Just goes to show that you have to take these sports reporters stories with a grain of salt.