Tennessee Football: Coaching Search Is Underway For OC

Exactly one year removed from “Schiano Sunday,” the Tennessee football program will begin a new coaching search; this time for a new offensive coordinator.

December 7, 2017, was the day Jeremy Pruitt was officially announced as the new head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers.  Pruitt was replacing Butch Jones, who was fired after a blowout loss to the Missouri Tigers.

Coach Pruitt was taking over Tennessee’s football program following a 4-8 season in which the Vols went 0-8 in the SEC for the first time in the history of the storied program.

Jeremy Pruitt was hired by hall of fame coach Phillip Fulmer after a long and complicated coaching search.  A search in which we saw the Tennessee fan base take a stand against a bad coaching hire in Greg Schiano and ultimately cost John Currie, Tennessee Director of Athletics at the time, his job.

The first challenge Pruitt would face as head coach was building a staff.  If he was going to be able to turn things around for the Volunteers, he would have to put a very good staff around him.  Considering his background as a defensive coordinator and the success he had at Georgia, Florida State, and Alabama most fans were not worried about the defensive side of the ball.  That meant all eyes would be on the offensive coordinator position.

In December of 2017, Jeremy Pruitt hired Tyson Helton as his guy to run the offense.  Helton previously worked as the co-offensive coordinator/passing game coordinator for the USC Trojans.

After being hired, Helton said all the right things to get Tennessee fans excited.  When I attended the national signing day celebration in Memphis earlier this year, he made it very clear that Tennessee would be a hard nose running team and spoke of being an explosive offense.

Unfortunately for Pruitt and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton, at the end of the season, the Volunteers’ offense ranked 121st in FBS.  Tennessee’s offense struggled all season with very few bright spots.

It didn’t take long for fans to start growing restless about the offensive woes of the Volunteers.  There was an ongoing debate amongst fans over the quarterback position, Jarrett Guarantano or Keller Chryst.  However, by the end of the season, most were in agreement that a change needed to be made at the offensive coordinator position.

Sunday evening it was reported by ESPN’s Chris Low that Helton was the leading candidate to be the head coach at Western Kentucky.

A little more than twelve hours later, it was already being reported that Helton had accepted the job and just like that, his time as offensive coordinator for the Volunteers is over.

What Does This Mean For Jeremy Pruitt?

Once again, Tennessee fans are in a frenzy looking for any bit of information they can find as they anxiously await what will probably be the most important hire Pruitt will make at Tennessee.  Considering his first season ended with a 5-7 record, Coach Pruitt will HAVE to hit a home run with this hire.

That doesn’t mean it has to be the biggest name available, but he can’t afford to hire someone who has to learn on the job.  Basically, the next offensive coordinator will have to show up ready to work and be able to take control of the offense and be able to produce.

I do believe that whoever is hired will be someone that Pruitt is already comfortable with.  He knows what he wants his offense to look like and more than likely, he will find an offensive coordinator who can do just that.

I won’t sit here and pretend that I have some sort of insider information about what is going on inside the program or who the top candidates are at this point.  But what I do know is this: If the next man is not up for the challenge and the offensive continues to get worse, head coach Jeremy Pruitt is going to start feeling a lot of pressure up there on Rocky Top.

At this point, my advice to Vol fans is put on your seatbelt and try to enjoy the ride.