Pruitt's coaching part of his family's legacy

NEW ORLEANS — Perched atop Sand Mountain in northeast Alabama right above Fort Payne, the town of Rainsville has a gentle, uncomplicated pace to everyday life. 

Families sink roots deeply into the DeKalb County community, choosing to forfeit the allure of living elsewhere in exchange for a simpler existence. There is a keen sense of loyalty among the close-knit town of 5,000 residents.

But change is in the mountain air thanks to one of their native sons, Jeremy Pruitt, being recently named as Tennessee’s head coach following a tumultuous search.

Although it is less than 50 miles from the Tennessee state line, cruising through the town reveals it is largely Crimson Tide territory. It has brought great pride that one of their own has served as Alabama’s defensive coordinator in his latest stint with the Crimson Tide.

The Pruitt family is legendary in these parts. Jeremy’s father, Dale, has won 283 games coaching for 36 years at five schools in the area, the last three at Albertville where his younger son, Luke, serves as a coordinator.

“Instead of me taking them fishing and hunting, I guess they went with me to the fieldhouse,” Dale said.

Dale spent 26 seasons in two stints at his alma mater, Plainview, leading the Bears to back-to-back state runner-up finishes in 1990 and 1991. Jeremy was the quarterback and was an All-State player at safety in 1991 and 1992.

So it was little wonder that Jeremy would follow in his father’s footsteps and enter the coaching profession.

“I knew at a very young age that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be like my dad,” Jeremy said.

Jeremy signed with Middle Tennessee State as a quarterback, before switching to defense his freshman year. After two seasons at MTSU, he transferred to Alabama as a walk-on in 1995 where he saw playing time as a defensive back his two years with the Tide.

“That was not as easy as it sounds when he transferred," Dale said. "You come from a high school coach’s family where none of us is rich, you’re on full scholarship and you go walk on for a dream?  There was a lot of discussion at our house if we could afford it.  It was a sacrifice, but we’re tickled we did."

Dale and Jeremy coached together for five years before Jeremy won two state titles in three years as an assistant at Hoover. He joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama from 2007-12, then served one year at Florida State and two at Georgia as defensive coordinator.

In a odd twist of fate, Pruitt returned to Alabama when defensive coordinator Kirby Smart became Georgia's head coach two years ago. Smart, after being named Georgia's coach, pulled double-duty en route to the Tide’s championship.

Their son’s acceptance of the Tennessee post has brought about a whirlwind of change for the Dale and his wife, Melissa.

“Our life has taken on a different tone, but it has for the last four or five years," Dale said. "But the people here are simple and look after each other, which is why we live here.

“We used to have a college tree that had ornaments from all the places Jeremy had been. We didn’t put it up this year. We have an Alabama tree with one orange thing hanging on it that somebody had given her at work. So it’s a little different.”

While many in the town are excited about Jeremy landing a head coaching gig, the fact it’s with one of Alabama’s bitter rivals might alter friendships in other communities.

“People around here are excited," Dale said. "There’s some of them that say they’re pulling for Jeremy but that can’t say ‘Go Vols.' There’s a bunch of them that have sent me messages saying ‘I didn’t think I’d ever be able to pull for Tennessee, but I guess I’ll have to now.'"

As Jeremy attempts to balance the responsibilities of helping Alabama prepare for Monday’s playoff game with Clemson in the Sugar Bowl coupled with assembling a staff and landing a recruiting class at Tennessee, Dale has offered his son some words of wisdom.

“I just told him to use his resources that he has," Dale said. "He’s got a guy like Phillip Fulmer right down the hall that’s been there, done that and knows the lay of the land. But Jeremy’s going to be his own guy, he’s done a good job at recruiting. I tell him to surround himself with good people."

And Dale Pruitt was one of the best in molding his oldest child, which is why Jeremy made it a point to salute his father during Friday’s media session while everyone else wanted to know about how he was preparing to stop Clemson.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work for a lot of good people, coaching in a lot of big games, but probably in my football career the funnest time was when I was a player playing for my dad," Jeremy said.

"That was really special."

Those special memories were cemented from Jeremy’s earliest days, according to his father.

“Jeremy was our first and we were real young so we kind of grew up together, I guess, in a lot of ways,” Dale said. “At that time I was coaching some football, some baseball and some basketball. So he was with me all the time because he wanted to play all of them.”

Knowing the sacrifices required in the coaching profession, Dale encouraged his children to choose a different career path.

“I have three children, and I tried to steer all three of them away from education, away from coaching," Dale said. "But two of them are coaches and my daughter is a first grade teacher, so I didn’t do a very good job."

But Dale saw something special in Jeremy at an early age that made him realize he would be a coach.

“Even as a kid he made people better around him, and all of that’s coaching," Dale said. "Kids coach when they play, so I think Jeremy was coaching a long time before he actually became a coach."

While the coaching pedigree is innate within the Pruitt family, Jeremy learned an even more valuable lesson that has led to his professional success.

“I’m very thankful for the foundation that he laid for me and my brother and sister growing up," Jeremy said. "I’ve learned a lot from him, but probably the biggest thing from my dad was how to treat people.

“It just seems like over the years he’s found a way to get the most out of the talent he’s had. I think a lot of it is the players respond because of the way he treats them and they believe in him and that’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned from him.”

But it’s the only way Dale has ever known to live, another reflection of the humility and simplicity seldom found in today’s culture but still very much alive on Sand Mountain.

“For the past 36 years, I’ve never had a job," Dale said. "I got to coach football all my life and get paid for it. I am very humbled that he would think that way. You just do what you do and I’ve been very blessed."