Jeremy Pruitt’s shot shows how well Kirby Smart has done in Georgia

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Jeremy Pruitt’s troubles show how Kirby Smart has been in Georgia football

After three seasons, Jeremy Pruitt is no longer the head coach of Tennessee. The school fired him, with cause, along with several other staff on Monday following an investigation into recruitment practices.

Related: Jeremy Pruitt fired, Tennessee football unfolds amid ‘astonishing and shocking’ investigation into violations

When Pruitt was hired in the 2017 cycle, there was the thought that Tennessee was trying to do what Georgia had done with Kirby Smart. Pruitt was a good defensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide, as was Smart. Pruitt was also considered an excellent recruiter.

The two were hired to lead major SEC programs as first chief coaching jobs. Smart had already found success when Pruitt was hired, as he led Georgia to an SEC title in his second season. He then guided the Bulldogs to the National Championship game, before falling to Pruitt and Alabama.

Georgia won this 2017 season relying on their running game and defense. It was rolling on the scouting front, with the Bulldogs signing # 3 class in 2017 and # 1 class in the 2018 recruiting cycle. It seemed like a good idea to try and regain some glory for Tennessee.

But since Pruitt took over, he has failed to lead Tennessee to the same level of success as Georgia. Except for a six-game winning streak to complete his second season, many of the issues that plagued Pruitt early in his tenure as head coach have done so throughout.

In Pruitt’s three seasons, Tennessee has gone 16-19. In games against Georgia, Florida and Alabama, Tennessee’s biggest games on the calendar each season, he’s gone 0-6. All of these losses were in double digits. This is not what you want.

Beyond the institutional shortcomings of Tennesse, there are two obvious reasons why Pruitt couldn’t live up to the same standard Smart set. On the one hand, Smart got into a much better program than Pruitt did with the volunteers. Tennessee won just four games before Pruitt arrived. Georgia won 10.

Pruitt never recruited remotely at the same level as Smart. Smart’s first three full classes – 2017, 2018 and 2019 – finished # 3, # 1 and # 2 in the 247Sports Composite rankings. Pruitt finished No.13 in 2019, No.10 in 2020 and No.15 in 2021 before his dismissal.

It’s a big gap between what Smart had to work with and what Pruitt did in terms of creating a program.

Pruitt also never had stability at the quarterback position. Jarrett Guarantono has always been there, but he didn’t start every game for Tennessee until 2018, Pruitt’s first season in charge. Even though the Volunteers seemed to land their quarterback of the future in 2020 at Harrison Bailey, he struggled to find consistent playing time last season.

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

Smart got consistent play from the quarterback position, although it wasn’t always great. Pruitt brought in offensive coordinator Jim Chaney of Georgia no less, but the quarterback’s musical chairs continued.

Despite Pruitt’s success as a defensive coordinator, his Tennessee defenses couldn’t replicate what Smart did in Georgia. The Volunteers finished within the first 25 yards per allowed play just once in Pruitt’s three seasons. Last year, the Volunteers fell to finish 76th in the country in that statistic. Pruitt’s tactics weren’t good enough to overcome the talent gap he faced at Tennessee.

Smart was also not blown away in the same way as Pruitt. In Smart’s first five seasons as Georgia coach, he recorded seven double-digit losses. Pruitt had seven in 2020 alone, to accompany the nine he picked up in the first two years of his tenure.

Smart hasn’t been perfect in the Georgia post as he’s also 0-3 against Alabama and Nick Saban. Smart’s offense has struggled to keep up with some of the sport’s other elite agendas. But he’s at least shown an adaptability by bringing in Todd Monken ahead of the 2020 season. There’s the whole Fields saga, too, though that’s a story for another day.

Related: 3 burning questions about football in Georgia; Kirby Smart’s Approach to Change

If there is a glaring difference in the pre-head coach days for Pruitt and Smart, this is how the former Georgia tenure ignited to end the 2015 season. While Pruitt has greatly improved Georgia’s defense over the past two years under Mark Richt, he’s created a number of problems behind the scenes. So much so that he was not a candidate to join the Smart team when he finally replaced Richt.

Smart never dealt with this level of drama during his time in Alabama. Maybe that should have been revealing.

Tennessee will now have to make their fifth head coach hire since the Volunteers won the last SEC East victory in 2007. Georgia have won the division five times in the same span, with Smart picking up the last three.

As frustrating as Smart’s time is as the era of Georgia’s head coaches, one need only look at the searing mess of the Tennessee schedule right now to see just how much worse things could get.

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