“When you look on a map I guess it matters where they come from…”

From the GTP Lexicon:

• Dooley-hour (n.) – a unit of distance, measured by how far a member of the University of Tennessee’s coaching staff can travel in a car in one hour.
• Dooleyland (n.) – an area mapped and claimed by the noted cartographer and football head coach Derek Dooley.  Also known as the State of New Tennessee (n.), it consists of a circle having a radius of three Dooley-hours, centered on its capital, Knoxville.  It is not to be confused with a larger region, Aaron Douglas’ Home (n.), with which it overlaps and shares certain defining characteristics.

It seems Jeremy Pruitt’s been taking some geography lessons from SOD.

With the Big Orange Caravan stopping in Atlanta tonight it was inevitable that much of the talk would center around recruiting. Not just how crucial this area specifically is to Tennessee’s football fortunes, but the state of Georgia as a whole.

Having made coaching stops at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State in his career, no one has to prep Jeremy Pruitt on how much talent exists in the Peach State on an annual basis, nor how that talent has impacted the fortunes of Tennessee football over the years.

“I think it’s a good advantage for the University of Tennessee with the proximity. You take out Georgia and Georgia Tech and probably Clemson and Auburn and we’re as close anybody else is and there’s more players than all those guys can take,” Pruitt said of how Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia figure into his recruiting strategy.

Hey, if he wants Kirby’s leftovers, I’m cool with that.  Of course, if this take is accurate, it’s still likely to be a step up for the Vols roster.

One coach who faced Tennessee during Butch Jones’ time as the Volunteers’ football coach thinks Jones did a “complete horse (bleep) job.”

The comment was revealed in the annual Southeastern Conference football preview magazine produced by Lindy’s that hit newsstands Tuesday.

The shortcomings that derailed Jones’ tenure as Tennessee’s football coach have been well-documented and dissected, but the remarks from the anonymous coach published in the magazine are particularly scathing toward Jones, who is now an intern at Alabama.

The anonymous coach was also harsh on Tennessee’s roster.

” And I don’t think they have very good players,” the anonymous coach said, according to Lindy’s. “Tennessee is supposed to have talent. I think South Carolina has better talent than Tennessee, and that should never happen.”

Jones was fired last November after Tennessee lost at Missouri and fell to 4-6. The Volunteers finished the year 4-8 for the first eight-loss season in program history, despite having done well in recruiting rankings during Jones’ tenure.

“To say Tennessee has had top 15 classes under Butch Jones, that’s fake news,” the anonymous opposing coach told Lindy’s. “I think it was a combination of the classes being overrated and the coaches not developing the talent.”

Ummm… wasn’t Pruitt an opposing coach during Jones’ time at UT?  Just sayin’…

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A Saturday that will live in infamy

I’ve gotta admit this is a good question.  In fact, let’s do a reader poll.

If you want to be a smartass about it, no, the first loss doesn’t have to occur in 2018.

“That’s what I want. Let’s do it.”

Remember, Tennessee fans, it’s not what Phillip Fulmer can do for you; it’s what you can do for Phillip Fulmer.

He’s here for you.

I know we direct a fair amount of snark Tennessee’s way these days regarding the Fulmer-Pruitt relationship, but serious question here:  can anyone come up with another example besides Fulmer of an athletic director who’s been so willing to thrust himself into the media limelight over the direction of a program with a new head coach?

Young love is young, love.

Aw, get a room, you two.

“You can see why Coach Fulmer was a good recruiter when he was coaching,” Pruitt said at Southside Social in Chattanooga on Thursday night. “He’s easy to get to know. Me and him have a lot of the same things in common, and we see a lot of things the same way,”

One of the more curious early narratives within the Tennessee fan base related to how the 67-year-old Fulmer and Pruitt would get along, in terms of their football relationship.

Some were worried Fulmer might interfere, perhaps not realizing that he is Pruitt’s biggest advocate and would not have hired him if he didn’t have supreme confidence in his coaching abilities.

Pruitt has said he feels fortunate to have Fulmer as an athletic director, going so far as to say other coaches are “jealous” of his situation.

“I’ve only known him for a short time, but it seems I’ve known him for a very long time,” Pruitt said. “So I’m excited to continue to work with him and what he can help bring to our program.”

Fulmer was not known to be a harsh critic of his players during his College Football Hall of Fame coaching career, but he supports the hard-core approach Pruitt has used this spring.

“I’m gonna tell you this, he has challenged everybody in every way, and I love it,” Fulmer said.

That is so cute.  Kinda reminds me of this budding romance.

Jeremy Pruitt has wanted to work at Georgia for a long time.

The former Florida State defensive coordinator first met Georgia head coach Mark Richt in 2003 as a high school coach in Fort Payne, Ala., when he brought two recruits to the university. Pruitt, who coached under his father Dale Pruitt at Fort Payne, was so impressed with the meeting 11 years ago that he promised himself something when exiting the room.

“When I walked out of that room 30 minutes later I was wowed,” Pruitt said. “My father looked at me and said ‘That’s what college football is all about.’ I said right then and there that if I ever had an opportunity to work for him that I would be a part of his staff.”

…  After transferring from Middle Tennessee State to Alabama, Pruitt roomed with Georgia offensive line coach Will Friend. Pruitt said that the two have continued talking weekly for the past 15-20 years, and Friend called him this week with news about an opening at the defensive coordinator position.

“When the job came open in the small talk we had weekly, he asked me if I would be interested and this is the University of Georgia, and who wouldn’t be interested in this job,” Pruitt said.

“It’s one of the premier jobs in college football, and I had the opportunity to work with coach Richt and I just couldn’t turn down.”

Yeah, that ended well.  This time will be different.  Probably…

“That, of course, is a judgment call, and the judgment call involves, how much dirty laundry do we want to hang out in the public?”

As a Georgia blogger pondering the spectacle of a meteor lawsuit, all I can say is hang it out there, baby.  All of it.

To be the man, you’ve got to be the man.

I’m not sure what my favorite part of this story is.  Is it that Phil Fulmer and not any of his head coaches is the headline act of this spring’s five-city Big Orange Caravan fan appreciation tour?

Or is it that with his shiny new contract, Fulmer is now the third highest paid athletic director in the SEC?  (With a raise applied retroactively!)

This is the point where I’d ordinarily say “don’t ever change, Volnation”, but I don’t really think they need any encouragement.