Jeremy Pruitt reveals what lessons he learned following Tennessee experience

The end of the Jeremy Pruitt era in Knoxville was messy to say the least. Tennessee followed an 8-5 season with a Gator Bowl win in 2019 during his second season with a 3-7 year in 2020. After that season, the program fired him following an in-house investigation into recruiting violations. Even with all that coming from his time in Knoxville, he says he didn’t leave that experience empty handed.

In an appearance on DawgNation’s ‘On The Beat’, Pruitt said his three year stint at the helm made him a better coach.

“The longer you do something, the better you get at it,” said Pruitt. “I think if you look at any assistant coach, first time coordinator, or first time head coach, the longer you do something you’re obviously going to improve at it.”

The Volunteers went 16-19 in those three seasons with Pruitt as the head man. That came after defensive coordinator stops at Florida State, Georgia, and Alabama.

The responsibilities of a head coach go far beyond the responsibilities of an assistant. That’s something Pruitt had to learn by earning his promotion in Knoxville. Pruitt says he had to learn how to relinquish responsibilities to his staff to better his program.

“(I) figured out that I couldn’t do it all myself. I had always been on one side of the ball. It was easy to manage one side of the ball and coach my position,” said Pruitt. “When you add the offensive element, the special teams element, the recruiting and all the things involved, it takes a lot of folks.”

After his departure from Tennessee, he spent one season in the NFL under Joe Judge with the New York Giants. That didn’t last long, though, as Judge was fired the season after his arrival. He has since said he plans to take a sabbatical from the coaching ranks. When or if he returns to the sport, he’ll be able to apply these new lessons from what he learned in his one season as the lead man.