Pruett has coached many high-profile National Football League (NFL) players, including Randy Moss, Chad Pennington, and Byron Leftwich.
In 1999, he was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame for his collegiate career in football, track and field, and wrestling.
[1] Pruett is a native of Beckley, West Virginia and was a star football player, wrestler, and sprinter at Woodrow Wilson High School.
He attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia where he originally played halfback on the football team, but moved to tight end his last two years, catching 24 passes for 442 yards and four touchdowns.
Pruett then moved to Gar-Field Senior High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, serving as head football coach from 1973 to 1978.
The following year, the Tulane Green Wave 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 for quite some time, applied and was employed by Steve Spurrier's staff for the 1994 and 1995 seasons as defensive coordinator.