Robert Lewis Pruett (born June 20, 1943) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

for nine seasons, from 1996 to 2004. During his tenure at Marshall, the

Marshall Thundering Herd football The Marshall Thundering Herd football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Marshall University. The team represents the university as a member of the Sun Belt Conference East Division of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

team compiled a record of 94–23 (.803 winning percentage), completed two undefeated seasons, won six conference championships, won five of seven bowl games played, and captured the

NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was k ...

in 1996. Pruett has coached many high-profile

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

players, including

Randy Moss Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee ...

Chad Pennington James Chadwick Pennington (born June 26, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Marshall, where he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and was selecte ...

, and

Byron Leftwich Byron Antron Leftwich (born January 14, 1980) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played in the NFL for ten seas ...

. In 1999, he was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame for his collegiate career in football,

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

Early life and playing career

Pruett is a native of

Beckley, West Virginia Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. This city is the home of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology or West Virginia University, Beckley Campus. ...

and was a star football player, wrestler, and sprinter at Woodrow Wilson High School. He attended

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

where he originally played halfback on the football team, but moved to

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

his last two years, catching 24 passes for 442 yards and four touchdowns. After graduation in 1965 he signed as a free agent with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

of the

, and later played for four seasons with the Virginia Sailors / Roanoke Buckskins, a semi-pro team in Virginia.

High school coaching career

Pruetts' coaching career began with the school system of

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

suburbs. He was an assistant football coach, head

coach and head

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

coach at

Falls Church High School Falls Church High School (FCHS) is a high school located in West Falls Church, Virginia, in unincorporated Fairfax County.Hayfield Secondary School Hayfield Secondary School is a secondary school (grades 7–12) in the Fairfax County Public Schools system of Virginia. It opened in 1968 and graduated its first senior class in 1971. History The land that Hayfield Secondary sits on was at one ...

(1968–1969). His first head coaching job was at Groveton High School from 1970 to 1972. He was portrayed in the movie ''

Remember the Titans ''Remember the Titans'' is a 2000 American biographical sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on the true story of coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel W ...

'' when the 1971 Groveton vs TC Williams game was featured. Pruett then moved to

Gar-Field Senior High School Gar-Field Senior High School is a senior high school in Woodbridge in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, USA, with students in grades 9 through 12. Established in 1953, it was originally located at 15941 Cardinal Drive until the ...

Woodbridge, Virginia Woodbridge is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, located south of Washington, D.C.. Bounded by the Occoquan and Potomac rivers, Woodbridge had 44,668 residents at the 2020 census. Woodbridge o ...

, serving as head football coach from 1973 to 1978.

Collegiate coaching career

Pruett earned his first collegiate coaching job in 1979 as the defensive line coach for his alma mater,

. In 1981, he became the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator for the Herd until the end of the 1982 season. Before the start of the 1983 season, Pruett joined the coaching staff of the

Wake Forest Demon Deacons The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a mem ...

as the defensive backs coach. His lifelong friend,

Al Groh Albert Michael Groh II (born July 13, 1944) is an American football analyst and former player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Wake Forest University from 1981 to 1986 and at the University of Virginia from 2001 to 2009, compil ...

, was the head coach of the Demon Deacons at the time. He remained the defensive backs coach until 1985, when he took on the role of defensive coordinator. Though Groh stepped down as head coach of the Deacons in 1986, Pruett kept the job of DC until 1990, when he became the defensive backs coach at Ole Miss the next season. Pruett, known for his diverse defensive coverages, gained high respect in the NCAA, and as a result, would coach as a defensive coordinator or head coach for the rest of his coaching career. The following year, the

Tulane Green Wave The Tulane Green Wave are the athletic teams that represent Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). There are 14 Green Wave interco ...

hired him as their defensive coordinator until the end of the 1993 season, when one of his lifelong goals came true. Pruett, who had aspired to coach at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

for quite some time, applied and was employed by

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

's staff for the 1994 and 1995 seasons as defensive coordinator. In his first season there, his defense held opposing teams to an average of 84.6 rushing yards per game, and kept those same teams to an average of 17.1 points per game. That season, the Gators played the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in the

SEC Championship The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

, in which they won, 24–23. They then accepted a bid to play in the Sugar Bowl against their in-state rivals, the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

, in which they lost, 17–23. In his second and final season at Florida, Pruett's defensive squad led the team to an undefeated regular season. Also, the UF defense that year was ranked top 25 in the nation in scoring defense, pass efficiency defense, rushing defense, and total defense. In the SEC Championship that year, the Gators took on the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

and came out with an easy win, with the score 34–3. At #2 in the AP Polls, The Gators were given a bid to play in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona against the also undefeated

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

. The game was a rout, with the Cornhuskers coming away with the victory, 62–24. This game came to be known as the "Fiasco Bowl" due to the lopsided score. While coaching at Florida, the head coaching job at

became vacant due to

Jim Donnan James Mason Donnan III (born January 29, 1945) is a former American football player and coach and now a television analyst for college football and a motivational speaker. He served as the head football coach at Marshall University (1990–1995 ...

taking the head coaching job at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. Pruett immediately applied for the position, later Marshall President J. Wade Gilley called Pruett and informed him that the job was his. In 2008, Pruett came out of retirement to become the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. After the 2008 season, Pruett retired again.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruett, Bob 1943 births Living people Sportspeople from Beckley, West Virginia Players of American football from West Virginia American football halfbacks American football tight ends Marshall Thundering Herd football players Track and field athletes from West Virginia Marshall Thundering Herd men's track and field athletes Marshall Thundering Herd wrestlers Coaches of American football from West Virginia High school football coaches in Virginia Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Tulane Green Wave football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Woodrow Wilson High School (Beckley, West Virginia) alumni