It was tough to say which member of the University of Tennessee's Big Orange Caravan got the loudest ovation Thursday night at the First Tennessee Pavilion.
New UT athletic director and former Volunteers football coach Phillip Fulmer certainly drew a robust response. So, too, men's basketball coach Rick Barnes, who guided his program to a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship, sharing the title with Auburn and former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl.
But if those men held their own with new football coach Jeremy Pruitt in the ovation department, they trailed him badly in the autograph line. Like by a country mile, which seemed appropriate since Pruitt grew up in Rainsville, Ala., about two and a half hours from Neyland Stadium.
"I feel like I fit in well with the people of Tennessee," he said. "Most important thing is that I understand the expectations."
Those expectations are all over the map for the Vols, judging from the 400 or so folks who ignored early threatening weather to see and hear from their UT coaching heroes. At least one fan asked Pruitt what it would take to beat Alabama, which has rolled over the Vols for 11 straight seasons. That same fan wondered when UT might return to the SEC title game, or win another national championship, as it last did under Fulmer in 1998.
With wisdom belying his first season as a head coach on any level, Pruitt replied, "I hope we have bigger goals than just beating one team (Bama). We want to get to the point where everyone is worried about beating Tennessee."
Not that Pruitt hinted that he is expecting those results any time soon.
Recalling how his father - legendary Alabama high school coach Dale Pruitt, who once worked at Marion County - came by a spring practice unannounced in March.
Afterward, Jeremy asked his dad if he'd stay and watch tape of the practice.
According to the UT coach, his dad replied, "No, I couldn't watch that twice."
Yet that also seems to be one thing that appeals to the Big Orange Nation as they await Jeremy's first game as Tennessee's coach against West Virginia in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 1.
"I like his sternness, kind of like Coach (Tom) Weathers was with me," said 40-year-old Dale Bent, who played for the legendary Weathers at Red Bank. "Coach Weathers was a great man who you respected, but at the same time he wasn't going to let you get away with anything. I think Pruitt's like that."
Colin Keener, 15, and Dwight Perry, 54, were two of the folks standing in line with Bent and his 11-year-old son Harbor for close to 30 minutes to get a Pruitt autograph.
Asked how long he'd been a Vols fan, Perry said, "Since I was in my mother's womb."
He soon added, "I watched his dad coach at Marion County for a couple of years. He made Friday nights fun."
Cindy Coleman brought her 8-year-old son Jacob down from Cleveland, Tenn., to meet Pruitt.
"It was so awesome," she said of the autographs the two collected. "(Pruitt's) cool, but he's tough. I think I was more excited than the kids."
Here's cool: When Bob Kesling asked Pruitt about his father bringing out the best in him, Prutt replied, "My mom got the best out of me."
Here's tough: In discussing this coming season's potential stars, Pruitt said: "There's some guys who've played a lot of football for Tennessee who may not get to play much this year."
He also took time to praise Fulmer, who hired him after John Currie was fired as AD after having been on the job eight months.
"Most important thing about taking the job was Coach Fulmer," Pruitt said. "Couldn't ask for anyone better to learn from."
Nor did he downplay the importance of his student-athletes learning something besides football, as he singled out the good work done by UT's Thornton Center academic staff.
"Most important thing our guys will ever do is get a degree," Pruitt said before adding, "There were a lot of things that needed to be tweaked when I got here. One thing that didn't was the Thornton Center."
He even told the audience to mark down Aug. 5 on their calendars for Fan Day, everyone in attendance not only getting to watch a practice but line up later for an hour-long autograph session with all the players.
This isn't to say the Vols will improve hugely on last season's 4-8 record, though he didn't say they couldn't, either. Yet none other than Pruitt's boss believes the future holds promise.
"(That staff) is going as hard and fast as possible," Fulmer said, "to get this football team where we all want it to be."
Thursday night inside the Tennessee Pavilion, that appeared to be more than enough to satisfy the Big Orange Nation some 114 days from the season opener.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.