Pruitt's lawyer threatens fiery lawsuit as Tennessee refuses settlement with ex-Vols coach

81usaf92

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Well, Pruitt's story is basically that they didn't just find out, this was going on at Tennessee for quite some time prior to his arrival. That makes it somewhat important to the entire narrative.
That in no way makes him look better in this, it actually makes him look worse because he never stopped it or knew about it.


Either way Tennessee's defense here is something I don't think I've ever seen. Yes, we did break all those NCAA rules but it was all the fault of the person in charge! It's bizarre in how thoroughly it implicates them.
Probably because they didn’t think he was stupid enough to ruin his career in a mud fight with the university. His reputation would be better if he didn’t try to fight it in public.


As far as Pruitt going to Tennessee at the time I said I couldn't blame him because he was set to make so much money. That was basically a full career's worth of money in one contract. It was a 22.8 million dollar contract, that's nearly 23 years as Alabama DC with what he was making at the time. It was stupid contract on their part but it's hard to turn down that kind of money. Remember this guy was at Hoover in 2006 and wasn't an on-field coach at Alabama until 2010. That contract was probably close to ten times his net worth.
Aranda is at Baylor and is probably going to be offered far better jobs than Tennessee. Do you think he is 10X smarter and has a far better financial situation than Pruitt.
 

KrAzY3

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That in no way makes him look better in this, it actually makes him look worse because he never stopped it or knew about it.

Probably because they didn’t think he was stupid enough to ruin his career in a mud fight with the university. His reputation would be better if he didn’t try to fight it in public.

Aranda is at Baylor and is probably going to be offered far better jobs than Tennessee. Do you think he is 10X smarter and has a far better financial situation than Pruitt.
I think we both know he probably knew about it, but the idea that he looks bad because he wasn't involved at all is kind of hard for me to follow. If he didn't know about it, then he's clean in all of this. That seems unlikely of course but there's a big difference between, "it's all his fault" and "he had nothing to do with it". Obviously he doesn't look good, but if there's a lot of distance between this doesn't look good to his career is over.

As far as ruin his career, what part of Tennessee firing him with cause and saying it was all his fault isn't ruining his career? You and others were at that point in time of the opinion he was too toxic to be hired due to that. At this point he's out millions and can't be hired. It seems to me Tennessee backed him into a corner, they chose not to pay him and to publicly admit guilt just to avoid paying him. That's 100% Tennessee's doing. I think it's also extremely unlikely that Tennessee's version is accurate and Pruitt claims to have proof it isn't.

Aranda is just a radically different situation. He started coaching on the FBS level in 2003, he got his first FBS DC job in 2010, became an assistant head coach in 2016. He was making 2.5 million already. Pruitt had an amazing resume as a DC, he had a terrible resume for a head coaching candidate. Aranda goes from 2003 to his first head coaching job in 2020. Pruitt goes from first on field FBS job in 2010 to head coach in 2018, making virtually as much as Aranda is making by the way.

Pruitt has never been an assistant coach, he'd never been a head coach. I said when the hire happened it felt spiteful, like Tennessee couldn't get their guy so they got Alabama's guy. The thing is they just tossed a giant bag of money, frankly far far more than Pruitt was worth in his lap and he took it. Had he stayed he might have become a viable head coaching candidate, but just being a good DC does not automatically make someone a good head coach. We'd not even seen him long enough at one stop to figure out how good he was at recruiting.

From start to finish this is a collection of stupid from Tennessee. Why they did it, to save money, to hurt Alabama, because they wanted a patsy, we can go over all kinds of possibilities but this is a Tennessee creation.
 

81usaf92

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I think we both know he probably knew about it, but the idea that he looks bad because he wasn't involved at all is kind of hard for me to follow. If he didn't know about it, then he's clean in all of this. That seems unlikely of course but there's a big difference between, "it's all his fault" and "he had nothing to do with it". Obviously he doesn't look good, but if there's a lot of distance between this doesn't look good to his career is over.

As far as ruin his career, what part of Tennessee firing him with cause and saying it was all his fault isn't ruining his career? You and others were at that point in time of the opinion he was too toxic to be hired due to that. At this point he's out millions and can't be hired. It seems to me Tennessee backed him into a corner, they chose not to pay him and to publicly admit guilt just to avoid paying him. That's 100% Tennessee's doing. I think it's also extremely unlikely that Tennessee's version is accurate and Pruitt claims to have proof it isn't.

Aranda is just a radically different situation. He started coaching on the FBS level in 2003, he got his first FBS DC job in 2010, became an assistant head coach in 2016. He was making 2.5 million already. Pruitt had an amazing resume as a DC, he had a terrible resume for a head coaching candidate. Aranda goes from 2003 to his first head coaching job in 2020. Pruitt goes from first on field FBS job in 2010 to head coach in 2018, making virtually as much as Aranda is making by the way.

Pruitt has never been an assistant coach, he'd never been a head coach. I said when the hire happened it felt spiteful, like Tennessee couldn't get their guy so they got Alabama's guy. The thing is they just tossed a giant bag of money, frankly far far more than Pruitt was worth in his lap and he took it. Had he stayed he might have become a viable head coaching candidate, but just being a good DC does not automatically make someone a good head coach. We'd not even seen him long enough at one stop to figure out how good he was at recruiting.

From start to finish this is a collection of stupid from Tennessee. Why they did it, to save money, to hurt Alabama, because they wanted a patsy, we can go over all kinds of possibilities but this is a Tennessee creation.
Look I get you really like the guy but it’s beyond obvious that neither him or Tennessee wants a public fight on whose laundry is whose. Anything that comes out because of lawsuits and leaks is going to look far worse than “internal investigations” in which the NCAA drops the show cause. Unless Pruitt is hurting financially then this route is not to his benefit because Tennessee most likely has far more stuff to throw at him than he does at them. Really I don’t care, it’s more funny to me.
 

Ole Man Dan

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The Tennessee Program's Defense appears to be a variation of the Delta House Defense, as used in Animal House.

'We don't deny that we broke a few rules, We Did, Wink, Wink... Did we take advantage of a few girls, We Did. Wink, Wink.
Jeremy Pruitt was the head coach, he knew everything.
It's his fault, not ours. Wink, Wink'...
 

KrAzY3

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Look I get you really like the guy but it’s beyond obvious that neither him or Tennessee wants a public fight on whose laundry is whose. Anything that comes out because of lawsuits and leaks is going to look far worse than “internal investigations” in which the NCAA drops the show cause. Unless Pruitt is hurting financially then this route is not to his benefit because Tennessee most likely has far more stuff to throw at him than he does at them. Really I don’t care, it’s more funny to me.
My points are just relative to what's going on. I'm not saying Pruitt is flawless in all of this.

What I am saying is it sure does look like Tennessee has tried to make him a patsy. Do you think anything Tennessee is saying is true? If it's false Pruitt has a point to be made here. What seems more likely of two possibilities? Tennessee was dirty before Pruitt showed up or Pruitt is the only one there that was dirty? Obviously it could be both but Tennessee has taken the position it's only one of the two.

To reiterate all Tennessee had to do was pay him and they have less NCAA trouble and we're not talking about this. They're the ones that tried to nuke his career.

I would add that there's one thing we haven't discussed. Pruitt reportedly told people that he could always go back to be DC at Alabama. Now, I'm not saying that's a factor in Tennessee's erratic behavior, but their actions certainly seems to have averted that eh? It isn't out of the realm of possibility that Tennessee just couldn't stomach the notion of a coach they are still paying being DC at Alabama.

I say this as someone who said all along that part of Tennessee's motivation for hiring Pruitt was just to undermine Alabama. I also will point out that the guy you say I really like I'm arguing was completely unqualified to be a head coach, heh.
 

81usaf92

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My points are just relative to what's going on. I'm not saying Pruitt is flawless in all of this.

What I am saying is it sure does look like Tennessee has tried to make him a patsy. Do you think anything Tennessee is saying is true? If it's false Pruitt has a point to be made here. What seems more likely of two possibilities? Tennessee was dirty before Pruitt showed up or Pruitt is the only one there that was dirty? Obviously it could be both but Tennessee has taken the position it's only one of the two.

To reiterate all Tennessee had to do was pay him and they have less NCAA trouble and we're not talking about this. They're the ones that tried to nuke his career.

I would add that there's one thing we haven't discussed. Pruitt reportedly told people that he could always go back to be DC at Alabama. Now, I'm not saying that's a factor in Tennessee's erratic behavior, but their actions certainly seems to have averted that eh? It isn't out of the realm of possibility that Tennessee just couldn't stomach the notion of a coach they are still paying being DC at Alabama.

I say this as someone who said all along that part of Tennessee's motivation for hiring Pruitt was just to undermine Alabama. I also will point out that the guy you say I really like I'm arguing was completely unqualified to be a head coach, heh.
Tennessee was in a position in which everyone turned them down after the Schiano goof. Kiffin told them to not ask, and even Aranda turned them down. Gundy and Leach said no. It was that bad. I don’t think Screwing Alabama was a top priority at that point. It was really down to best available coordinator. Aranda and Venables were out so they asked Pruitt.
 

TideEngineer08

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Tennessee was in a position in which everyone turned them down after the Schiano goof. Kiffin told them to not ask, and even Aranda turned them down. Gundy and Leach said no. It was that bad. I don’t think Screwing Alabama was a top priority at that point. It was really down to best available coordinator. Aranda and Venables were out so they asked Pruitt.
Which again, we have circled back to the root issue here. Pruitt's intelligence or decision making skills. I'm struggling to make him look good here, in any way we point the light. The issue is not the lighting, in other words.
 

NoNC4Tubs

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The point when I made my post though was that they cared about things other than just NCAA sanctions. The money in this case clearly for some reason meant more than the NCAA coming down on them. They could have gotten rid of Pruitt and stayed out of more serious trouble simply by paying off said dumb contact.

They chose not to. So that is proof that part of their thinking went beyond just getting rid of Pruitt. Seems to me they made a pretty shortsighted move but honestly hiring Pruitt at the time seemed shortsighted and petty and I said it back then. Oh our other candidates didn't work out. Let's hire this guy from Alabama, at least it messes them up a bit. From the start of the Pruitt saga Tennessee seems to have had bad idea after bad idea. No one was talking up Pruitt for a major job until then, the guy was at Hoover in 2006. He hadn't been around the college ranks long enough to be a hot commodity as a head coach.

This whole thing from start to finish reeks of Tennessee stupidity and spitefulness.
Perfectly fits Phatimus involvement, doesn't it? :cool:
 
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NoNC4Tubs

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I think that is an easy question. Fulmer is much smarter. He certainly has done some dumb things, but he is one of those who will act dumb to your face while he is sticking 57 knives in your back while you are left wondering how he outsmarted you. Coach O is just a meathead (Hooray, America, where meatheads make millions for xhlk sljfls sodov! That says "coaching some football.") hahahaha
The thing is that Phatimus is so fixated on hurting Bama that he is oblivious to other things. (Tunnel vision.) Hiring ou DC away was the only thing that he as AD could do to us, although weak as it was.

It's ironic that he has taken his beloved university down for the very things that he was accusing us of more twenty years ago... :D He realizes this and is throwing Pruit under the bus in an attempt to save himself the humiliation.
 

B1GTide

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Which again, we have circled back to the root issue here. Pruitt's intelligence or decision making skills. I'm struggling to make him look good here, in any way we point the light. The issue is not the lighting, in other words.
With respect Pruitt, at some point he had to figure out what was happening, but he clearly did not design their "payment program". So, TN was caught because of systems that were in place when he arrived. Also, it is highly unlikely that he had the power to unwind any of it.

So, what does he do? Quit? Turn TN in to the NCAA? Career suicide.

IMO, he likely did what just about any head coach would have done in that spot - pretended it wasn't happening and focused on coaching football.
 

TideEngineer08

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With respect Pruitt, at some point he had to figure out what was happening, but he clearly did not design their "payment program". So, TN was caught because of systems that were in place when he arrived. Also, it is highly unlikely that he had the power to unwind any of it.

So, what does he do? Quit? Turn TN in to the NCAA? Career suicide.

IMO, he likely did what just about any head coach would have done in that spot - pretended it wasn't happening and focused on coaching football.
My issue with him is the decision to take the job in the first place.

He would have been a target for far more attractive jobs. Now his HC career prospects are absolutely destroyed, and frankly, would have been without all of the cheating nonsense. He was still heading for a firing, a return to the coordinator ranks, and no better than a small time G5 HC position sometime in the future.

It was career suicide to ever take the Tennessee job.
 
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BamaInCummingGA

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You can bet Jelly Belly had his hands all in this.
What we don't know is if Pruitt did or did not bring this to someone's attention and what the results of that were.
I will say this: if this goes to court the puke orange nation will rue the day they heard the name Phillip Fullmer.
 
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NoNC4Tubs

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With respect Pruitt, at some point he had to figure out what was happening, but he clearly did not design their "payment program". So, TN was caught because of systems that were in place when he arrived. Also, it is highly unlikely that he had the power to unwind any of it.

So, what does he do? Quit? Turn TN in to the NCAA? Career suicide.

IMO, he likely did what just about any head coach would have done in that spot - pretended it wasn't happening and focused on coaching football.
Absolutely nailed it, B1G! :cool:
 
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NoNC4Tubs

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You can bet Jelly Belly had his hands all in this.
What we don't know is if Pruitt did or did not bring this to someone's attention and what the results of that were.
I will say this: if this goes to court the puke orange nation will rue the day they heard the name Phillip Fullmer.
It won't. Somebody with half a brain on the legal team will point out how stupid that would be...(though I hope that it does go to court). :cool:
 

NoNC4Tubs

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From the ESPN article:

The school also fired assistant coaches Brian Niedermeyer and Shelton Felton, four members of the on-campus football recruiting staff, the director and assistant director of football player personnel and a football analyst/quality control coach.

Chancellor Donde Plowman in January said it was "stunning" and "shocking" the number of people involved and the amount of incidents the university's internal investigation had uncovered.


That makes it look like this goes far beyond Pruitt. This was already a problem well before he ever arrived in Knoxville... :cool:

I just don't see a first-time Head Coach going to the extents that Phatlock claims he did.
 

twofbyc

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With respect Pruitt, at some point he had to figure out what was happening, but he clearly did not design their "payment program". So, TN was caught because of systems that were in place when he arrived. Also, it is highly unlikely that he had the power to unwind any of it.

So, what does he do? Quit? Turn TN in to the NCAA? Career suicide.

IMO, he likely did what just about any head coach would have done in that spot - pretended it wasn't happening and focused on coaching football.
I can’t see any situation where he didn’t at least have strong suspicions; I just don’t believe he walked in blind. He can’t be that ignorant.
I think he knew, but it was just too much money to turn down; maybe he thought Phatty could weasel them out of any tight spots they wormed themselves into, and he found out pretty soon it was too late for that and he had no choice but to ride it out.
I’m not well versed on exactly what Tennessee admitted to when they cut him loose, but knowing how slimy they are I feel confident in saying it was likely only the tip of the iceberg and they thought firing JP would obscure the rest and it would just go away.
If Tennessee caves now after all that’s been said they will be admitting guilt and would almost certainly require JP to never reveal what he supposedly has as evidence. I guess that’s possible, but I think it’s going to court at this point. I sure hope it does.
 
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B1GTide

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I just don’t believe he walked in blind.
Not sure what you mean by this, but every program is doing something suspect. If he only took "clean" jobs he would not be able to coach. If you think that he knew that the Vols were cheating to this degree, what is that based on? Their tremendous success in recruiting? I mean, they have been terrible on that front for a decade.

Finding out how much the Vols have been doing here is shocking only in that it was so ineffective.
 

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