From Tennessee football to middle school basketball? Jeremy Pruitt back in coaching
RAINSVILLE — Jeremy Pruitt is back at Plainview.
The former Tennessee head coach, and Alabama defensive coordinator, returned to his alma mater and will be a P.E. teacher — and while it is still being worked out, he will be coaching the middle school basketball team. It is still unknown if he will be coaching football, a team coached by his father, Dale. Jeremy had been back in the Rainsville area for about the last year.
His father confirmed multiple reports during the DeKalb/Jackson County Media days event on Friday, but said he would not comment further on it.
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Pruitt recently was given a six-year show clause that would trigger an automatic one-year suspension if he is hired at a college during that period. The punishment comes from his role in the Tennessee recruiting scandal, that also led to his firing from the Volunteers.
Plainview is not just his alma mater, but it is where he started as coach in 1998 after a one year stint as a graduate assistant at Alabama. He moved to West Alabama before returning to Plainview in 2000 under Dale. The duo would move to Ft. Payne where Jeremy stayed through 2003, before spending the next three seasons under Rush Propst at Hoover High. He would move to the college ranks as Alabama's director of personnel before coaching defensive backs from 2010-2012.
Stints as defensive coordinator at Florida State and Georgia would follow before he returned to Alabama. He spent two seasons as defensive coordinator before being hired at Tennessee. After his firing at Tennessee he was a senior defensive assistant with the New York Giants in 2021.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: What sport will former Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt be coaching at Plainview?
