Former Georgia assistant coach Jeremy Pruitt, now the head man in Knoxville, Tennessee, survived his first SEC Media Day on Wednesday, but it was not easy.

Pruitt handled himself well in front of cameras and reporters in Atlanta as he was berated with tough questions, especially for a first time head coach.

Some of those tough questions pertained to former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray’s comments made on Wednesday that questioned Pruitt’s fitness for the job, including a few character concerns.

Murray critical of Pruitt:

“I don’t know if his personality is fit to be a head coach. I don’t,” Murray told 102.5 The Game via the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Blake Toppmeyer. “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 dealing with the kids and scheming up. There’s a lot that goes into it. When he was at Georgia, the way he acted, the way he treated Coach Richt I thought was poor. He wasn’t as respectful as I thought a defensive coordinator should be to a head coach.”

Pruitt responds:

“Fifteen years ago, I was a kindergarten teacher,” said Pruitt. “Now, I’m the head coach at Tennessee. You probably don’t make that ascension without knowing how to treat people.”

“I coached against Aaron, he was a fantastic player, great competitor. But you know, I grew up a coach’s son, so you know, when you’re standing on the sideline and your dad’s high school team is going 2-8, the folks up in the stands, even in Rainsville, Alabama, they’re not real happy. So, I realized at an early age that everyone has an opinion, and my dad told me, ‘as long as they pay their money, son, they can say whatever they want to. So, I’m going to worry about the things that I can control and I know who I am and I’m comfortable with that.