The following are actual numbers from the 2019 fiscal year (football only) and also just absolute random guesses. (Primary source - Blake Toppmeyer KNS)

A popular idea being floated around town is that UTAD just doesn’t have the money to fire Pruitt, after all, Pruitts buyout all by himself is more than the UTAD has in reserve. That statement is true, however the context is completely incorrect. Pruitt will not be payed in a single lump sum, therefore what is in reserves is not the primary determining factor.

Let’s look at the numbers ... 2019 Fiscal Year (football)

Total Revenue: $96.1M Total Expenses: $52.7M Difference: $43.4M Surplus

For comparisons sake, let’s just take some of the huge numbers to compare, that are easier to project, instead of getting into the minutiae.


Revenue Ticket sales: $29M Contributions: $26.4M Media rights: $15.2M Royalties, licensing, advertisement and sponsorships: $10.1M Total: $80.7M


Expenses Support staff/administrative compensation, benefits and bonuses: $4.5M Coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses: $11M Athletic facilities debt service, leases and rental fee: $11.1M Athletic student aid: $5.2M Severance payments: $260,852 Total: $32.06M Difference: $48.64M


Conclusion: The football program has more than enough money to fire Pruitt and staff and hire Freeze and staff. The money problem is that football funds all non revenue sports. Largest anchor on the Athletic Department ... Support staff/administrative compensation, benefits and bonuses: $21.8M for all other sports, just $4.5M for football, a $17.3M deficit, aka drain on the football program.

Can the Athletic Department “afford” to fire Pruitt and friends? Let’s, for ease, round up and say it’ll be a cool $20M to buyout Pruitt and friends. That takes us to more than a $37.3M deficit, or bill that the football program has to pay. However, we’re hiring Hugh Freeze as his replacement.


What’s logical? What’s fiscally responsible?

The UTAD can’t even afford to pay Pruitt & friends after a $40M dollar deficit (Especially after the already overpaid P.E. teachers refused a small pay cut). The entire UTAD only operated at a $789,730 surplus in 2019. So there’s gonna be major adjustments and cuts made to non revenue sports. There’s gonna be major adjustments made just to pay Pruitt & friends. So it’s obvious, UTAD can’t afford to fire a guy who’s more than proven already he’s in way over his head. Correct?

Not at all. What UTAD needs more than anything after a potential $40M financial hit is the obvious, money. Whatever plan is currently in place to navigate the 2021 athletic year can still stay in place. That’s actually another reason to go ahead and fire Pruitt & friends if Freeze is the answer.

Let’s look ...

Projected 2021 Forecast (Conservative projections, but still not demonstrable facts)

Revenue (With Pruitt)
Ticket sales: $29M

Contributions: $26.4M (A $3M decrease from the previous year)

Media rights: $15.2M

Royalties, licensing, advertisement and sponsorships: $10.1M Total: $80.7M


These are 2019 numbers. No logical person on Earth would expect these numbers to rise after this pathetic 2020 campaign; the logical conclusion is an overall decline. We could conservatively conclude donations will further plummet, more than even the $3M decline going into this failed 2020 campaign.

More than likely, ticket sales will drop by at least $1M. Contributions will decline by at least $3M. Media rights should still remain in the ballpark so we’ll give Pruitt the same figure. Royalties, etc., will at least decline by $500K.

Adjusted 2021 revenue projections: $76.2M




Revenue (With Freeze) Ticket sales: $35M Fans would pay $10 more per ticket if Freeze were hired. That’s a $7M bonus, but for argument, we dropped a mil. We also unanimously feel attendance at games would easily be in excess of 20,000 more per game on average.

Contributions: $35M This is our most conservative estimate. Money would pour in if Freeze were hired. $40M is probably closer to accurate..

Media rights: $15.2M This number should stay really close so we’ll leave it alone.

Royalties, licensing, advertisement and sponsorships: $11.1M Freeze should generate a similar response as Lane Kiffin, but we also dropped a mil here just for argument.

Total: $96.3M


Conclusion: Freeze would generate $20.1 upon hiring. (And these are conservative estimates, we can easily argue another $10M, and I mean easily argue.) In 2021 the UTAD needs money. They’ll get money, because there’s not a more passionate fan base in sports. However, keeping Pruitt & friends will cost a lot more than they’re worth. Adjusting the salary of Pruitt when adding what the UTAD will lose means he’s a $9M per year coach in 2021.


The argument for Pruitt beefing up his staff this off-season ... when has that ever worked? Pruitt’s reputation in the sport is that he’s great with the kids, he’s a really good to great coordinator, but he’s difficult to work with, about impossible to work for. He’s not going to attract any quality coaches without guaranteeing them 2-3 year contracts, another financial drain. If the UTAD is going to go ahead and give out multi year contracts to assistants anyway, isn’t that money better spent on a fresh staff?

Conservative projections show that the UTAD could hire Freeze at $5M per year with another $5M for a staff and still have change in their pocket.

Hiring Freeze would pay for itself.

Hiring Freeze would excite the fan base like the wave we saw with Kiffin. It’s a wave the UTAD could ride to financial stability. Let’s look at some other factors.

The SEC wrote checks in 2019 to each member school for $45.3M. Obviously, because of the pandemic, that number will drop. However, help is on the way.

The current contract with CBS, at a paltry $55M per year for the conference, will jump to $300M per year with ESPN/ABC in 2023. That’s a jump from getting $3.9M per school to $21.4M per school per year. You think college football is out of control with salaries now, it’s about to get as absurd as a Titan’s Bill phone call.

But it also allows for loans and promises since there’s proof the money is coming in a couple of years. Also, who do you think could build a more attractive product in the time leading up to 2023? Or, to steal a line from Pruitt, who gives us a better chance at success?

Conclusion: Is keeping Pruitt saving money or spending money? It’s beyond obvious, (no offense Roger,) that keeping Pruitt is a disastrous move football wise. Donations will continue to fall, ticket sales will fall, merchandising will fall, etc. Also, no rational argument can be made that hiring a proven winner, even though risky, in Hugh Freeze, who’s already a popular figure with the majority of the fan base, will not swell the coffers.


Also, not to be left out, Fulmer.

There’s an argument that Fulmer shouldn’t be held responsible for the Pruitt hire since he came in at the end of the most embarrassing coaching search in modern history. Very little time, very little interest. That argument is 100% solid, until the moment Fulmer gave the ‘Lost to Georgia State’ Pruitt an absolutely undeserving 2 year extension. He’s now tied to him.

One thing for sure, I’ve heard countless times over the years how, “Fulmer’s blood runs orange.” I have no doubt that Fulmer loves UTK. No doubt. However, I had a personal experience with Fulmer in the past. His blood runs a deep Benjamin Franklin shade of green, don’t kid yourself. One thing Fulmer is not, is stupid. He absolutely sees the train wreck that is Pruitt and knows his job is tied to him. Why else would he secretly take an extension and retention bonus? Where is he going? Who’s trying to hire him? It’s because his blood runs green. Nothing wrong with that. It is what it is. But the extension he needlessly gave a dead man walking in Pruitt will cost the UTAD even more money, because, guess what, Phil “Show Me The Money” Fulmer knows the money is there.

The year 2020 is a disaster, no other way to spin it. The UTAD will lose a lot of money this year. The history of UTAD says they’ll keep this financial anchor, Pruitt, in place with the same arrogance of him keeping Guarantano as QB while gifting Indiana and North Carolina program building QB’s. While we may not know what we have in Bailey, we absolutely know what we have in Guarantano, a really nice kid who can’t play quarterback. While we may not know what we have if we hire Freeze, we do know what we have if we keep Pruitt, a loser, on the field, and in the bank.

P.S. - Randy Boyd, we need Charles Davis in the AD office and Freeze as head ball coach.