Success for Tennessee Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt could impact AD hires in SEC, beyond
If Jeremy Pruitt has a successful first season at Tennessee, he could impact more than football. He also could affect sports administration.
Whatever success Pruitt achieves will reflect on athletic director Phillip Fulmer, the man who hired him. And it could change the way universities think about sports administrators.
Fulmer was a rush-order hire. Convinced that UT's search for a new football coach had become an exercise in desperation, former chancellor Beverly Davenport executed the administrative equivalent of calling 911.
She fired athletic director John Currie, whom she had hired less than a year earlier. She then proceeded to make a mockery of the standard hiring process.
Why Vols hiring process with Phillip Fulmer was so unusual
Davenport didn't form a search committee. She didn't hire a search firm. She didn't announce what qualities would be essential for anyone seeking to becoming Tennessee's next athletic director.
There wasn't a second-round of interviews. There wasn't even a first round.
Nor did Davenport bother with such pedestrian matters as reading a résumé. She simply asked Fulmer if he wanted the job. He said "yes."
Fulmer had never signed off on a tennis team's travel expenses. Never mapped out a softball team's schedule. Never hired a baseball coach.
And never administered a $100 million-plus athletic department budget like UT's.
But Fulmer knows what it takes to win a national championship in football. He did that in 1998 when he led the Vols to an unbeaten season.
That was enough for Davenport. And if the Pruitt hire works out, that might be enough for other major college programs, especially those in the SEC.
After all, when football is flourishing, who would be overly concerned if the softball program exceeded its travel budget or the baseball program team is foundering.
Can Tennessee follow the Alabama football path to success?
How do you think the late Mal Moore is remembered at Alabama?
How many Tide fans would have cared if he were the most or least capable sports administrator in the country?
He hired football coach Nick Saban. Since then, Alabama has added five more national championship trophies to its display case.
Moore's other hires — good or bad — are forgotten. But every time Saban hoists another national championship trophy overhead, Moore is remembered.
History proves that hiring the right coach isn't easy. Not even at Alabama.
Before the Tide hired Saban, it hired Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price and Mike Shula. They combined to win as many national titles as Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley and Butch Jones did at Tennessee.
UT's recent run of coaches has created a great opportunity for Pruitt. And Fulmer, too.
The program has plummeted to such depths that just reaching the SEC championship game in Atlanta would surpass what the Vols have been doing the past 10 years. That also might get the attention of university presidents and chancellors in the SEC and beyond.
And it might convince some of them that they don't need to hire a proven administrator to run their athletic department. They just need to hire someone who can hire the right football coach.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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