NCAA announces big penalties for Tennessee, ex-head coach Jeremy Pruitt

Credit: Mickey Welsh, Montgomery Advertiser via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The NCAA on Friday announced the findings of its investigation into numerous violations within the Tennessee football program.

As outlined in a press release, NCAA investigators determined that Tennessee and former head coach Jeremy Pruitt committed 18 Level I violations and a total of more than 200 individual infractions over a three-year period. Most of the violations “involved recruiting rules violations and direct payments to prospects, current student-athletes and their families.”

Tennessee has been fined $8 million and will lose at least two scholarships per year during a five-year probationary period. They will have several other recruiting restrictions, but the Vols did not receive any bowl game or postseason ban. That is a huge win for the program.

Pruitt received arguably the most severe sanctions. The former coach was given a six-year show-cause order. He will also be suspended for an entire season if he takes another job with an NCAA program.

The NCAA found that Pruitt, his wife Casey and his former staff shelled out thousands of dollars in cash and impermissible benefits to recruits and players. In one instance, Casey Pruitt allegedly paid more than $15,000 in rent and car payments for a Tennessee player.

You can read the full list of infractions and sanctions here.

Pruitt was fired by Tennessee in 2020 after many of the recruiting violations came to light. The former coach admitted to some of the violations, including one instance where he gave the mother of a player cash in a fast food bag.

Pruitt last worked as a senior defensive assistant for the New York Giants in 2011. He was the head coach at Tennessee during an unsuccessful run from 2018-2020 and finished with a record of 16-19.

Tennessee has turned things around under current head coach Josh Heupel, who led the Vols to an 11-2 record and a win in the Orange Bowl last year. A bowl ban would have been the worst thing for Tennessee given the way the program is on an upswing, so they had to have been relieved to avoid that.