Jeremy Pruitt Responds to Aaron Murray After Ex-UGA QB Ripped Tennessee HC

On Tuesday, former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray questioned whether new Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt had the personality to lead a major college program and said he treated Mark Richt poorly while on his staff at Georgia.

On Wednesday, Pruitt responded.

"Fifteen years ago I was a kindergarten teacher, and now I'm the head coach at Tennessee," he told reporters at SEC media days, per Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com. "You probably don't make that ascension without knowing how to treat people."      

Murray didn't pull any punches when discussing Pruitt during an interview on 102.5 The Game:

"I don't know if his personality is fit to be a head coach. 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 scheming up.

"... When he was at Georgia, the way he acted, the way he treated Coach Richt, I thought was poor. He needs to prove to me that he can handle the whole ship. For right now, I don't think he can."

Pruitt, 44, spent two seasons on Richt's staff as defensive coordinator. He then served in that capacity at Alabama for the past two campaigns before the Volunteers hired him in December. 

He noted that he hadn't heard Murray's comments.

"I don't really know Aaron," he added. "I have a lot of respect for what kind of player he was."

Murray spent four seasons with the Bulldogs between 2010-13, throwing for 13,166 yards, 121 touchdowns and 41 interceptions while completing 62.3 percent of his passes. Murray and Pruitt never overlapped at Georgia, however, so it's unclear how the former quarterback formed his strong takes on Pruitt. 

Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports noted that Murray is a strong supporter of Richt. He certainly isn't a strong supporter of Pruitt.

"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," Murray said. "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."