As we try to get all the recruiting updates we can, I have thought a good bit about Coach Pruitt's comments regarding yesterday's atmosphere and the fans as well as everyone's reaction to it.
Let me first say, I don't think Pruitt's comments are any kind of end of the world bad and I don't think it changes how fans feel about him in any significant way.
I do however think it was a comment better served not said.
Here's what I believe in covering this program for 24 years and living in Knoxville all my life.
Tennessee fans will show up. I was impressed by the amount of people that were there on Saturday. I thought it was a really good crowd. This fan base loves their football. They have passion for it and they will show up. Sporting event crowds are down around the country year after year. So the days of waiting lists and hard to get tickets are fewer and farther between but Tennessee fans will show. They always have and I believe that they always will.
But Pruitt and the athletic department have to be mindful of where Tennessee fans are mentally. Many are tired and beat up. It's been 10 years of a new start, of turning the page. It's been four coaches in a decade talking about how the team has to learn how to practice and about how they are trying to instill their culture, etc, etc.
Yes, I know it's just a game, but simply put this fan base has been through hell and with each passing change, people become more hesitant to just jump in with both feet. It's natural. It doesn't mean there's apathy. It doesn't mean they don't care. It just means the buy in takes on a little more of a slower approach.
In someways that's how the fans are also like some on this team. A team that's had 4 strength coaches in 4 years as well as three DL coaches, three wr coaches, three OC's, three OL coaches, 3 db's coaches in three years.
Phillip Fulmer says he know what good looks like and he's hired a coach that can restore Tennessee football. Tennessee fans also know what good looks like and they are hoping the fourth try since Fulmer was fired is the guy who can restore their program back to the glory days. But because the first three guys to try failed, some Tennessee fans are a little more unsure.
It's not that they don't like Pruitt or that they think he can't get the job done. They have just been down this road a lot the last decade.
Let me first say, I don't think Pruitt's comments are any kind of end of the world bad and I don't think it changes how fans feel about him in any significant way.
I do however think it was a comment better served not said.
Here's what I believe in covering this program for 24 years and living in Knoxville all my life.
Tennessee fans will show up. I was impressed by the amount of people that were there on Saturday. I thought it was a really good crowd. This fan base loves their football. They have passion for it and they will show up. Sporting event crowds are down around the country year after year. So the days of waiting lists and hard to get tickets are fewer and farther between but Tennessee fans will show. They always have and I believe that they always will.
But Pruitt and the athletic department have to be mindful of where Tennessee fans are mentally. Many are tired and beat up. It's been 10 years of a new start, of turning the page. It's been four coaches in a decade talking about how the team has to learn how to practice and about how they are trying to instill their culture, etc, etc.
Yes, I know it's just a game, but simply put this fan base has been through hell and with each passing change, people become more hesitant to just jump in with both feet. It's natural. It doesn't mean there's apathy. It doesn't mean they don't care. It just means the buy in takes on a little more of a slower approach.
In someways that's how the fans are also like some on this team. A team that's had 4 strength coaches in 4 years as well as three DL coaches, three wr coaches, three OC's, three OL coaches, 3 db's coaches in three years.
Phillip Fulmer says he know what good looks like and he's hired a coach that can restore Tennessee football. Tennessee fans also know what good looks like and they are hoping the fourth try since Fulmer was fired is the guy who can restore their program back to the glory days. But because the first three guys to try failed, some Tennessee fans are a little more unsure.
It's not that they don't like Pruitt or that they think he can't get the job done. They have just been down this road a lot the last decade.
