Chris Rumph made no attempt Monday to put a positive spin on Tennessee’s 47-21 loss to rival Florida on Saturday night.

Speaking to the Knoxville Quarterback Club, the Vols’ co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach only could preach patience and promise that better days are ahead for Tennessee under first-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

“It’s an ugly baby right now,” Rumph told the crowd Monday at Calhoun’s on the River. “But we’ve got to take that baby home, all right? We have to take that baby home, and guess what. We’ve got to nurture it. We’ve got to love it. We’ve got to support it. We’ve got to discipline it. We’ve got to teach it.

“We’ve got to put all those things together. But one day — hopefully sooner than later, based on growing up — it’s going to be everything we want it to be. This program is going to be the program that it once was.”

Tennessee committed six turnovers against the Gators, and their 47 points were the most Florida ever has scored at Neyland Stadium.

Pruitt was hired in December to place former coach Butch Jones, becoming the Vols’ fifth coach since 2008. Jones was fired in November with two games left in what ended up being a 4-8 season — the first eight-loss season in program history.

Rumph acknowledged that Tennessee fans have been waiting for years for the Vols to return to competing for championships on a regular basis. Back-to-back 9-4 seasons in 2015 and 2016 under Jones remain their most successful years since Tennessee last won the SEC East in 2007.

“I know it’s hard. It’s hard,” Rumph said. “It’s been a long time. And it’s coming. I don’t know when it’s coming. I wish I could say we’re going to win the rest of them. I don’t know. I don’t know. But I promise you, before long, we’re going to put a product out there on the field that you’re going to be really proud of.

“And when we sing ‘Rocky Top,’ we’re going to sing it from the bottom of our stomach to the top of our lungs, and we’re going to scream it out loud. I promise you that.

“And we’re not going to quit, so don’t quit on these guys. Don’t quit on this staff. Don’t quit on this town. Don’t quit on this university. We need you. We need you. In such a time as this, we need you.”

Rumph insisted he’s not worried about the Vols' state of mind going into a brutal stretch of SEC games that starts with a trip to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday.

“They’re going to respond,” he said. “We’re not going to allow them to quit. Quit is not an option. It’s not a multiple-choice deal. It’s straight essay. You’ve got to write the answer. It’s not multiple choice. There’s not an option, not a choice.”

At one point, Rumph turned to Dan Brooks — a former defensive line coach at Tennessee and Clemson who attended Monday’s luncheon — and spoke highly of his first months with the Vols.

Rumph served as Clemson’s defensive ends coach in 2006-10, working alongside Brooks during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

“Coach Brooks, this place is just like what you said it was,” Rumph said to Brooks, who retired in January 2017 after eight years with the Tigers. "I remember when we were back together at Clemson, that’s all he used to talk about: ‘Man, I love it up there. I’ve got that place up there.’”