UT just finished paying Butch Jones $200K/month to work for Nick Saban. I'm not saying Butch Jones is some great coach, but if you look at Butch's first three seasons win/loss and recruiting, he outperformed Pruitt to this point while leaving Pruitt a better talent pool compared to what Butch inherited (leaving aside attrition that may have occurred at the end of the Jones era.)
After their first three seasons, Butch was 21-17 (0.552 win %) and had averaged a #12 recruiting class based on 247 Composite. Pruitt is 16-19 (0.457 win %) while averaging a #15 class. The four seasons prior to each taking over, Butch inherited 2009-2012 classes that averaged a #12 class, while the four Butch classes prior to Pruitt taking over (2014-2017) averaged a #10.5 class. Both coach's first classes (Butch's 2013 and Pruitt's 2018) were their worst classes at 25 and 21, respectively, and those likely would be the core of their teams in their third seasons in which Butch finished 9-4 while Pruitt finished 3-7. Granted, Butch played the normal 8 SEC game schedule while Pruitt got stuck with the 10 game schedule this year. Funny how those G5 and FCS games can cover up problems (see also Gus Malzahn). Butch's best class was his #4 2015 class, while Pruitt's best class to date is his #10 2020 class.
I think it's a talent issue for UT. The elite teams annually have top 5 classes. Occasionally, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU fall outside due to small class size. Clemson is sort of an outlier. Then you have the next group that are regularly in the 5-10 range and can compete, Florida, Penn State, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, etc. Obviously, coaching and development is important too. UT has a real dilemma. When one looks at the four seasons prior to Butch and his first three seasons, UT had 4 top 10 classes (2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015) with only 3 sub-10 classes (2011, 2012, and 2013). Butch started falling off in recruiting starting with his #14 2016 class. UT has now had 5 straight classes at #10 or below with Pruitt's 2020 class being the best at #10. UT had 4 straight classes until the 2020 class between #13 to #21.
If you are going to get rid of the guy, get rid of him now (or better yet yesterday) and hope the new guy can hold the 2020 class together. You either do that or sign Pruitt to an extension. Otherwise, the 2021 class will be another sub-20 class, which will doom the next guy, who you will fire after three seasons and rinse/repeat.
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