ATLANTA - Taking the high road took the Tennessee Volunteers' Jeremy Pruitt back to lessons learned in his hometown of Rainsville, Alabama, as he stepped Wednesday onto the biggest stage of his young football head coaching career.
Pruitt's debut at SEC Media Days came just hours before his former employer, Alabama coach Nick Saban, took the stage. It came one day after the man Tennessee fans expect him to emulate, Georgia's Kirby Smart, had his turn. It came two days after the coach who finally took a chance on him as a defensive coordinator in 2013, Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher, made his debut at this event.
Though his credibility as a hireable head coach is inextricably linked to those three, Pruitt cited advice from another coach who was influential in his life by coolly responding to criticism from former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who suggested that Pruitt did not deserve to share a stage with the likes of those three.
"I grew up as a coach's son," Pruitt said, recalling a youth spent watching his father, Dale, coach football at Plainview High School, which is about 60 miles southwest of Chattanooga. "So I remembered years ago being on the sideline. I always wondered about the guys hollering at my daddy in the stands. He said, 'Listen, you need to worry about the things you can control.' He goes, 'Those folks in the stands, they pay their money, they have their opinion. Let them do it.'"
In a prime example of why this annual preseason frenzy is referred to as "talking season," Murray's criticism swept Pruitt into a precarious situation as he prepared for a gauntlet of questions Wednesday about his first Tennessee team.
Jeremy Pruitt begins his SEC Media Days debut here in Atlanta pic.twitter.com/KNd0lqkKR5
— David Cobb (@DavidWCobb) July 18, 2018
Should Pruitt pretend that he hadn't heard about Murray saying he doesn't think Pruitt is "the right guy to kind of be the CEO of a corporation" and suggesting that Pruitt had disrespected former Georgia coach Mark Richt when he was Richt's defensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015?
If Pruitt was going to address the questions about Murray's remarks, it seemed plausible that he would do so by reminding everyone of his accolades and credentials as he faces the monumental task of making Tennessee a contender again on the heels of the program's first-ever eight-loss season.
But on a day when his predecessor, Butch Jones, was called thin-skinned and "a pathetic carny barker" by SEC media personality Paul Finebaum, Pruitt seemed determined to prove that he is the opposite: self-assured and genuine.
"I know who I am and I am comfortable with that," Pruitt said as he offered a gentle defense on the SEC Network set for the criticism he received from Murray on Tuesday.
Jeremy Pruitt is about to go live on SEC Network. pic.twitter.com/nmfeTPxPKB
— David Cobb (@DavidWCobb) July 18, 2018
In an early-morning meeting with local media before taking the main stage at the College Football Hall of Fame, Pruitt struck a similar tone with a calm but pointed response to Murray's remarks that again referenced his humble beginning.
"I look at it like this," he said. "Fifteen years ago, I was a kindergarten teacher, and today I'm the head coach at Tennessee. So you probably don't make that ascension unless you know how to treat people."
For every reference Pruitt made Wednesday to a lesson learned or the draft picks he coached on the staffs at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State, there seemed to be at least one reference to his roots as the son of a high school coach and his own extensive background on that level.
"I didn't get here by trying to be somebody else," Pruitt said. "I try to be who I am. I try to do the very best that I possibly could to help support the men I've worked for. And I'm thankful to have this opportunity."
With the emergence of Smart's Georgia team as a national power capable of competing with Saban's Alabama seemingly immortal dynasty, Pruitt has a tall task ahead in Knoxville. He knows that because he has coached at those schools and with those men.
Wednesday, he reminded the league that he is undaunted by the challenge, even if the detractors are more plentiful now than when he heard them questioning his father at Plainview.
The lessons learned then translated to Wednesday, as Pruitt turned the page on talking season without a major hiccup, thanks in part to his father's advice.
"I was a K-3 elementary school teacher," Pruitt said. "Today, I am the head coach at Tennessee. Along the way, I've been a part of two state championships and five national championships.
"So we've been doing something the right way."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.