Jeremy Pruitt shooting shows how well Kirby Smart did in Georgia

Jeremy Pruitt shooting shows how well Kirby Smart did in Georgia

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Jeremy Pruitt’s problems show how well Kirby Smart did in Georgia’s football

After three seasons, Jeremy Pruitt is no longer the head coach at Tennessee. The school fired him on Monday, with cause, along with several other staff members as a result of an investigation into the recruiting practices.

Related: Jeremy Pruitt dismissed, Tennessee football unraveled amid ‘stunning, shocking’ investigation into offenses

When Pruitt was appointed during the 2017 cycle, there was the thought that Tennessee is trying to do what Georgia with Kirby Smart. Pruitt was a successful defense coordinator for the Crimson Tide, as was Smart. Pruitt was also considered an excellent recruiter.

Both have been appointed to run major SEC programs as their first head coaching job. Smart had already achieved success when Pruitt was appointed, as he led Georgia to an SEC title in his second season. He led the Bulldogs further to the national championship game before falling to Pruitt and Alabama.

Georgia won the 2017 season by relying on its running game and defense. It started to turn on the recruiting front as the Bulldogs took the no. 3rd class in 2017 and the no. 1 class in the 2018 work cycle. It seemed like a good idea to try and regain some glory for Tennessee.

But since Pruitt took over, he has managed to lead Tennessee to the same level of success that Georgia has achieved. Except for a six-game winning streak to end his second season, many of the problems that plagued Pruitt at the start of his tenure as head coach continued.

In Pruitt’s three seasons, Tennessee led 16-19. In games against Georgia, Florida and Alabama, the biggest game on Tennessee’s schedule each season, he won 0-6. All these losses were with double digits. This is not what you want.

Aside from the institutional shortcomings at Tennessee, there are a few obvious reasons why Pruitt could not meet the same standard Smart set. For the first time, Smart has entered a much better program than Pruitt did with the volunteers. Tennessee won just four games before Pruitt’s arrival. Georgia won 10.

Pruitt never recruited at a distance near the same level as Smart had. Smart’s first three full classes – 2017, 2018 and 2019 – end number 3, no. 1 and no. 2 on the 247Sports Composite rankings. Pruitt it in 2019 no. 13, in 2020 no. 10 and placed at number 15 in 2021 before being dismissed.

This is a significant gap between what Smart had to work with and what Pruitt did in building an application.

Pruitt also never had stability in the quarterback position. Jarrett Guarantono has always been around, but he only started every game for Tennessee in 2018, Pruitt’s first season in charge. Although it looked like the Volunteers landed their quarterback of the future in 2020 in Harrison Bailey, he has struggled this past season to find consistent playing time.

Compare that to what Smart did in Georgia. He started Jacob Eason for all but one game in 2016. When Eason gets hurt to start the 2017 season, Smart turns to Jake Fromm. He started every single game for Georgia for the next three seasons, even with talented options like Eason and Justin Fields behind him.

Smart played consistently from the quarterback position, though it wasn’t always great. Pruitt brought in offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, from Georgia, but the musical chairs on quarter continued.

Despite all of Pruitt’s success as defense coordinator, his defense in Tennessee could not reflect what Smart did in Georgia. The volunteers only finished in the top 25 yards per game once in Pruitt’s three seasons. In the past year, the volunteers have fallen back to achieve 76th place in that country in that country. Pruitt’s tactics were not good enough to overcome the talent diversity in Tennessee.

Smart also does not touch in the same way as Pruitt was. In the first five seasons of Smart as coach of Georgia, he has seven double-digit losses. Pruitt had seven alone in 2020, to go along with the nine he picked up in the first two years of his tenure.

Smart has not been perfect in Georgia yet, as he is also 0-3 against Alabama and Nick Saban. Smart’s offense has struggled to keep up with some of the other elite programs in the sport. But he has shown at least some adjustment by bringing in Todd Monken ahead of the 2020 season. There’s also the whole Fields saga, though it’s a story for another day.

Related: 3 burning football questions in Georgia; Kirby Smart’s approach to change

If there’s one clear difference in Pruitt and Smart’s preparation days ahead of Pruitt and Smart, it’s how the former’s tenure in Georgia has diminished to end the 2015 season. While Pruitt has significantly improved Georgia’s defense under Mark Richt in the last two years, he has created a number of behind-the-scenes problems. So much so that he was not a candidate to join Smart’s staff when he finally replaced Richt.

During his time in Alabama, Smart never dealt with that level of drama. Maybe it should have been telling.

Tennessee will now have to hire its fifth head coach since the volunteers last won the SEC East in 2007. Georgia has won the division five times in the same time, with Smart winning the last three.

Just as frustrating as parts of Smart’s time were as Georgia’s head coaching era, one only has to look at the smoldering mess that is currently the Tennessee program, to see how much worse things can be.

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