So long, Aight
Where do we begin after just another Monday in UT football?
Or a Monday for the ages, depending on the perspective, but remember when you are talking about one for the ages in regard to the dysfunction of the Tennessee football program over the last decade and a half, well, those are some lofty ages.
Point A: Tennessee bigwigs revealed there are several Level I and Level II NCAA violations. (Here’s Paschall’s details of the Monday revelations that led to 10, including head coach Jeremy Pruitt, being fired for cause, and Phillip Fulmer ‘retiring’ as AD.)
Point B: Of those relieved of their duties, for cause, were head coach Jeremy Pruitt, inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer and outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton as well as eight others in the football program ranging from director of player personnel to four members of the on-campus recruiting staff.
Point C: This will be the final chapter for UT living legend Phillip Fulmer, who actually amid mass firings for recruiting violations actually said in Monday’s proceedings that “certainly recruiting has been good” when asked about the program’s advances under Pruitt.
Point D: As amazingly bad as Pruitt was on the field, he apparently was worse off it considering the monster violations, a growing indifference among Johnny Vols Fans everywhere, the need for name tags as players come and go in the transfer portal. That said, it was at best Michael Scott-in-The-Office funny or at worst awkward as a toot in church, but Phillip Fulmer saying that recruiting was going good when asked about the positives – never mind the Level I and Level II violations there, Phil – was pitch perfect for where these Vols find themselves these days.
Point E: Well, I could go on. Truly. We also could talk timing of this – a two weeks and a day before a critical last-hour signing day, six weeks before spring practice, at a time when there are holes on staff that all the coveted assistants are already on the go – and none of that is good.
And those points will be fresh and frustrating, now and into the future.
It will be talked about a bunch, because of the passion and the pride of the program, and in truth, those are the things that will get UT through this.
Yes, today is dark, and there are a lot of folks taking victory laps at UT’s expense (more on that in a moment). It’s been a rotten 15 years for a program that was a national brand not that long before becoming a national punchline.
There will be time for ‘Hot Boards’ and wish lists, and I hope all of my UT fans realize the wisdom in focusing on the AD hire before the coach hire, even from an appearance angle.
And there’s also hope in the fact that before Alabama became its current version, there was a time when Alabama was very much like this UT version with a new debacle around every corner and behind the next stripper.
Because as Andy Dufresne told us, “Hope is the best of things.”
Keep your chin up, Red. And Intern Scott, B-Shep and the rest of my UT friends.
But, there’s a silver lining
Yeah, all the headlines were head scratching and highlights left you pretty low, Johnny Vols Fan. I get it. Remember I cheer for dysfunction.
But, forget that. All of it. All of that negative, all of those talking points aside, all of the anger and hopelessness and hyper scrutiny from the national media types getting a laugh and going full blown preachy after the UT Twitter Mafia uprising on Schiano Sunday.
(Side note: Why is it so hard to understand that while the Pruitt thing was an abject failure, that does not mean Greg Schiano automatically would have worked? And the national folks cheering for UT to fail are like the national sports writers who in some ways wanted COVID to shutdown football so they can be proven correct. Also, while we’re here, USA Today’s Dan Wolken should be forced to mention his exchanges with former UT AD John Currie in which Currie asked a national reporter for PR help with the fan base. That conflict of interest, in my mind, means Wolken is fortunate to still have a job and really should not be writing on UT football considering the perceptions of bias and a past filled with conflicts of interest.)
Where were we? That’s right, forget all of that, even the emotion of helplessness and the true unknown that hinges on despair when wondering whether UT football will ever return to the 1990s apex. Trust me, at least for today and maybe even tomorrow.
Let all of that go, and know this:
UT football is better off today than it was Sunday, when Pruitt was part of the program. And UT athletics will be better off once Fulmer’s replacement is found.
Sure, there will be angst moving forward, because UT’s track record of hiring recently has been as smooth as the pot-hole-plagued Boy Scout Rd. in Hixson.
But just about anyone is going to be better than what Pruitt is and what Fulmer has become. As for the latter, it’s a sad end for sure, because there is no question Fulmer’s love for and devotion to UT athletics. But you know what? I love my family and am endlessly devoted to them, but if my kids need dental work, well, that’s not in my area of expertise and we’re going to need to get that handled by someone else, you know?
As for Pruitt, a lot of us knew this day was coming after Georgia State. That should have been a fireable day in and of itself. Sure, some of us were bamboozled by a fast finish to 2019, but we all knew even as we were giddily talking ourselves into something – anything – other than the clear reality that he was in way, Way, WAY over his head.
You can’t go 3-7 in Year 3 and 0-9 against Georgia, Florida and Alabama AND commit egregious NCAA violations while doing it. Because we all know that if those numbers were tilted in the other direction, say 8-2 in Year 3 and 6-3 or better against those three rivals, you could go to Kosmo Kramer levels of Level I violations and I don’t think Pruitt gets walked to the curb.
(Side note: Now it’s completely fair to wonder how you are a) cheating your tail off, and b) getting what’s left of your tail kicked by Arkansas by double digits and by UK by four TDs.)