Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt responds to criticism from former Georgia quarterback

On Tuesday, former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray criticized new Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt in an interview with Nashville radio. One day later, Pruitt responded to Murray’s take as the Volunteers head coach made his rounds at SEC Media Days.

Pruitt was asked about Murray’s critique Wednesday morning. Pruitt explained how he felt Murray’s assumption Pruitt couldn’t work well with others was inaccurate.

“Fifteen years ago, I was a kindergarten teacher. Now, I’m the head coach at Tennessee,” Pruitt said, per The Athletic’s David Ubben. “You probably don’t make that ascension without knowing how to treat people.”

Murray left Georgia after the 2013 season and before the team hired Pruitt as defensive coordinator. On Tuesday, Murray told Nashville’s 102.5 The Game he didn’t think Pruitt’s nature would gel in the role of a head coach.

“I don’t know if his personality is fit to be a head coach. I don’t,” Murray said. “As a head coach, there’s so many things that go into it. It’s not just going out there and coaching. You have to deal with front office. You’ve got to go talk with the president of the university. You have to deal with boosters. You have to deal with the offense, the defense. It’s not just going in there and dealing with the kids and scheming up. There’s a lot that goes into it.

“I don’t think he’s the right guy to kind of be the CEO of a corporation. He’s really good managing just a defense and being a defensive coordinator. He needs to prove to me that he can handle the whole ship. For right now, I don’t think he can. We’ll see what happens this year. I don’t think it helps that he doesn’t have a lot of talent at Tennessee.”

Pruitt was Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015. In his final season at the helm of the Bulldogs defense, Georgia won 10 games and ranked eighth in the nation in scoring defense.

There were, however, reported issues with Pruitt and other members of the coaching staff, which Murray also brought up.

“When he was at Georgia, the way he acted, the way he treated [former head coach Mark] Richt I thought was poor,” Murray said. “He wasn’t as respectful as I thought a defensive coordinator should be to a head coach. That’s my thing, with authority.

“When he’s dealing with the athletic director, when he’s dealing with the president, when he’s dealing with a booster who has given millions of dollars, you can’t go tell him to screw off. You have to take the meeting. You have to sit with them. Yeah, I know you want to be game planning and getting ready for the game, but you’re a head coach now. You have to do these other things.”