Potential Candidates to replace Craig Fitzgerald
Jeremy Pruitt's program suffered a blow when Craig Fitzgerald announced he was making a return to the NFL to become the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the New York Giants. Fitzgerald has essentially served as the off-season head coach for Jeremy Pruitt's tenure, and he has yielded productive results. Fitzgerald's departure leaves another void for Pruitt to fill, which will continually happen when you bring in the best guys to run your program. We take a look at the potential candidates to replace Fitzgerald.
Aaron Feld
Feld currently serves as the strength and conditioning coordinator at Oregon for Mario Cristobal, but he has extensive ties to the Southeast, as a graduate of Mississippi State, he also spent time on staffs at Alabama, UAB, Georgia, and Northern Alabama before he headed off to the Pacific Northwest. Pruitt and Feld's paths have not spent time on the same team, but their paths have narrowly missed, as Feld showed up to Alabama and Georgia during the off-season that Pruitt departed, so there is a chance they have some form of a relationship. Feld has been successful at every single stop. He provides young energy that a program like Tennessee's needs, and he could be looking to return closer to his roots. There is a high likelihood he will get a call. Tennessee could certainly provide him a raise as well.
Tyler Owens
Owens played as a linebacker for Alabama from 2011-2015 before becoming an assistant strength and conditioning coach to Scott Cochran in 2015. Owens served as an understudy to the best name in the business, he played for, and coached with Pruitt, so the connection could certainly be there. There is a new regime in Tuscaloosa after Nick Saban hired David Ballou from Indiana, so Owens could be open to a new position, especially with a pay raise and new title. He is another young, energetic guy, who has been around successful programs, and he would understand the demands that Jeremy Pruitt would have around his.
Jerry Schmidt
Widely known as one of the top names in the country, Schmidt has been with Jimbo Fisher for the past two seasons, and he was at Oklahoma before that. He has had successful stops at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Florida, and Notre Dame. He has coached six Heisman trophy winners according to his bio on Texas A&M's university website. He is the 6th highest-paid coach in America, but he was making one hundred fifty thousand less than Fitzgerald. He may be comfortable at this stage of his career, but money always talks. Fisher would certainly like to keep him around, so that would be an intriguing option.
Internal Hires
The first three names mentioned are obvious candidates, but Pruitt has plenty of options to promote from within as well. Mike Farrell, the Assistant Director of Football Sports, has served under Fitzgerald since 2018, as has Byron Jerideau and AJ Artis. These two would serve as quick, safe hires to make an easy transition for the program. However, we know with Jeremy Pruitt that he will vet every possible alley before making such a pivotal decision.
Featured image via SI.com