Former Tennessee Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt makes honest admission about returning to coach at the high school level

Former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt, at the very least, should be a defensive coordinator at a big-time college football program right now.

But instead, Pruitt is the defensive coordinator under his father, Dale, at Plainview High School (which is where Pruitt played high school football).

As a result of the NCAA investigation that led to Pruitt losing his job at Tennessee in early 2021, he received a six-year show-cause penalty and an automatic one-year suspension (if he's hired by a college program).

It's a comical penalty from the NCAA. Pruitt, after all, is being punished for providing around $60k in impermissible benefits. In the NIL era, that's probably a week's paycheck for some of the top paid players. But Pruitt, for whatever reason, has been ostracized from the sport because the previous era of college football had absurd rules. It doesn't make any sense, but it's Pruitt's reality for now.

To Pruitt's credit, he's not focusing on the opportunities he doesn't have. Instead, he's focusing on the opportunity that's in front of him. As a result, he says he’s having more fun coaching than he has in a long time.

“It’s interesting, you know, I've had a lot of my guys that I’ve worked with over the years have asked me, you know, do I really like what I’m doing now,” said Pruitt recently while previewing Plainview's 2024 season. "I’m probably having more fun today than I’ve had in a very long time. I’m living in the community that I grew up [in]. I was sitting there talking to Coach (Paul) Benefield, I saw a thing, I think yesterday on Facebook or a couple of days ago, that Coach [Benefield] is the second winningest high school coach right now and I think Dad was number four or five as active. I had an opportunity to play for both of them."

“I'm close to my mom, my dad, my brothers, sisters, family," added Pruitt. "I get to coach young men that maybe I had coached their parents or brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles. Went to school with them over the years, so I’m really having a good time. And I get to be around my kids."

It's unfortunate that Pruitt, who is regarded as having one of the best defensive minds in football, isn't a part of college football right now.

But good on Pruitt for focusing on the positives. And there are certainly plenty of positives for the former Tennessee head coach. The time that he now gets to spend with his kids, specifically, is something he'll undoubtedly treasure forever.

Related: Alabama insider says Jeremy Pruitt and the Tennessee Vols factored into Nick Saban's decision to retire