Yeah, I just said that. I can already hear some of you firing up the keyboards on your phone and computer to argue with me, but you are wrong. You've all been led astray by rumor and speculation with little to no concrete information, convincing yourselves that certain names are top or even probable targets. You've manufactured no's in your mind based on wounds from the past and vague at best information. Please stop.
I suppose it's worth diving into some specific names: Hugh Freeze, Kendal Briles, and Mike Yurcich. I truly hate that I even have to address these names, but here we go all the same. Hugh Freeze has the NCAA stink on him, and the SEC has apparently reserved the right to refuse his hire or even add punishments on if he was hired. That makes him a huge risk at best. Additionally, he has chosen to coach as a head coach at lower levels in the past over being an offensive coordinator before. Even assuming there was mutual interest there, which remains rumored but unconfirmed, there is no real evidence to suggest an offer was ever made. That's not a no. That's a never was.
It's been stated that Pruitt did interview Kendal Briles. That honestly is the extent of that. It sounded pretty quickly like that had gone nowhere. That makes a bit of sense too considering the fact that Briles was on Baylor's staff during their own Title IX issues and Tennessee had their own problems on that front not too long ago. The optics of that hire would have been awful, and what Briles does offensively does seem to be outside of Pruitt's comfort zone. Again, not a no.
Mike Yurcich is maybe the most complicated of the names on this list, but how much interest there was or how far that went seems to depend on who one is talking to. An offer may have been made. I don't see much questioning of that as a fact. However, it seems like that happened earlier in December, things didn't work out between the two sides, and it was dropped. All the new talk on that front seems to have come about as people on the Oklahoma State side of thing tried to connect the dots with the probability that Yurcich wasn't going to be back. Maybe it was a no. Maybe it was just not a fit for the two sides. Regardless, Yurcich is going home to Ohio, according to reports, including from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
So tires were at least kicked in the college ranks initially and a fit wasn't found, leading to a suspension of the search. Vol fans, worried about measuring their...you can fill in that blank...with every other program in the SEC and country, increasingly become concerned about the amount of time being taken to fill the role. Why?
I ask that question sincerely. Why do you care who fills what roles where? Why do you care how long it takes to make the hire when you have no clue who will end up with the job? Everyone seems determined to call the search a mess when it hasn't really even had a chance to be judged as anything.
Everyone needs to chill out. A plethora of new names have become available from the NFL ranks to interview and potentially pursue. As other pieces move around the chessboard, the picture becomes clearer for the best options to fit what Pruitt is looking for. The end result is the only thing that matters. All the handwringing in the world won't make that result any better or worse when it's all said and done.
Some potential names to watch moving forward: Steve Sarkisian, Freddie Kitchens, Matt Canada, Major Applewhite, and Chip Long, although it's possible other names will come up as things progress. Perhaps another name to keep an eye on could be Jim Chaney, but there doesn't seem to be much interest there. At any rate, Georgia has yet to give him an extension and he may be on the market soon enough.
Reserve your judgment, Vol fans. There are names available and names that are also probably better philosophical fits with Pruitt, and at least two that he has prior relationships with. Life may be about the journey rather than the destination, but that isn't true of hirings. You will only be judged on the final outcome and whether or not it works out. Until that's revealed, all this panic just makes the entire fan base look silly. Stop it.
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