Tennessee football fined $8M, reportedly vacating 11 wins for NCAA violations under ex-coach Jeremy Pruitt

Following Tennessee’s own investigation into NCAA infractions, former coach Jeremy Pruitt was sacked after the 2020 season. Tennessee football was fined $8 million and reportedly had 11 victories revoked due to NCAA breaches.

For allegedly overseeing “hundreds” of NCAA infractions, the NCAA penalized Tennessee $8 million and imposed a six-year show-cause punishment on former Volunteers coach Jeremy Pruitt.

According to school administrators on Saturday, the program would also forfeit 11 victories during Pruitt’s 2019 and 2020 campaigns, as reported by ESPN.

The first NCAA ruling was made public on Friday following a settlement on the matter between the school and the governing body. Tennessee’s own investigation of program irregularities led to Pruitt’s termination following the 2020 season. Tennessee claims it fired Pruitt with reason and that it did not owe the coach his $13 million buyout as a result of the probe.

The NCAA’s penalties did not include a bowl ban for Tennessee.

The NCAA said in its ruling that it “declines to prescribe a postseason competition suspension for Tennessee, given the institution’s excellent cooperation and the board’s recent direction on penalties.” “The panel recommends an increased financial penalty that eliminates $8 million in revenue the institution would have otherwise received in connection with postseason competition in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, in place of a ban on postseason competition. This will result in a total financial penalty of more than $9 million when combined with the mandatory core financial penalty and a fee to remedy Tennessee football student-athletes’ ineligible competition in a 2020 bowl game.

Pruitt had a 16–19 record while coaching Tennessee from 2018 to 2020. Following the 2019 season, Tennessee made its lone bowl appearance under his tenure—the Gator Bowl.

After Pruitt was fired, the Volunteers signed Josh Heupel, and in 2022 they finished 11-2.The complete NCAA ruling is available here.

Plan to give players and recruits unauthorized benefits

Under Pruitt’s leadership, the NCAA claims a large-scale plot to lure recruits to campus on unapproved paid recruiting visits that weren’t considered official visits took place.

“During these visits, hotel accommodations, food, entertainment, and other inducements for the prospects and those who traveled to Knoxville with them were arranged and paid for by members of the football coaching and recruiting staffs,” the NCAA stated. In addition, the staff enlisted football student-athletes in the program and asked them to host prospective guests, giving them payment to defray their hosting costs. In order to safeguard the health and safety of prospective students, student-athletes, and staff, official and informal visits were absolutely forbidden during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, during which a large number of visits occurred.

Additionally, Arizona State is alleged to have hosted multiple recruiting trips within the COVID-19 dead time.

Pruitt was a direct participant in the conspiracy, according to the NCAA. The NCAA’s notice of infractions to the university from July 2022 claimed that he and his wife Casey had paid recruiters directly. Pruitt and his spouse “gave the prospect’s mother with $6,000 in cash, intended to be a down payment on a new automobile for her, which is both a violation of NCAA rules and a recruiting enticement,” according to a statement released by the NCAA on Friday.

The NCAA alleged that the Pruitt family continued to give his mother cash and financial support during the unidentified player’s 23 games for Tennessee’s football team.

“The head coach’s wife continued to offer his mother $500 in cash each month for car payments on at least 25 occasions after the prospect signed a National Letter of Intent and enrolled at the university,” the NCAA said. “To help her locate a rental property in the Knoxville area, the head coach’s wife also connected her with a real estate agent who was also a Tennessee booster. The head coach’s wife gave the student-athlete’s mother $1,600 in cash to cover the $1,550 deposit that was needed at the time the lease was signed. Additionally, when assistant coach 1 moved into the rental house later that month, the head coach’s wife made arrangements for assistant coach 1 to give the prospect’s mother an additional $1,600.”

The NCAA claimed that following Pruitt and other staff members’ termination, Tennessee sought an additional probe from the regulatory organization. Per the NCAA press release:

Within a few months of its investigation, the school informed NCAA enforcement staff that more research was necessary and took major corrective action, firing multiple coaches and staff members implicated in the infractions, cutting scholarships, and restricting recruiting.

The panel’s ruling stated that Tennessee “moved fast, comprehensively, and forcefully under the strong leadership of its chancellor.”

The enforcement staff testified throughout the hearing that Tennessee’s major efforts to gather and produce information were essential to the case’s fully developed record.

The panel stated that Tennessee “showed remarkable cooperation throughout the inquiry and processing of this case.” “Even if there was heinous behavior in this case, Tennessee’s response to it is an example that all other institutions should aspire to.”

Tennessee had already applied self-imposed sanctions prior to Friday’s ruling, which included a decrease in the number of scholarships that were available and a restriction in recruiting trips. A five-year probationary period and a 28-player scholarship cut during that period are among the sanctions announced on Friday. Pruitt’s six-year show-cause agreement implies that any college hoping to hire him in the ensuing six years will have to do so.