Tennessee avoids bowl ban, ex-coach hit with significant penalty after NCAA finds ‘hundreds of violations’
The NCAA fined Tennessee $8 million
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The NCAA came down hard on former Tennessee Volunteers football coach Jeremy Pruitt on Friday after finding more than 200 individual infractions committed by the football program during his three-year run as head coach.
The decision by the Division I Committee on Infractions comes after Tennessee was sent a notice of allegations last July detailing 18 Level I rules violations against the football program under Pruitt and his staff.
The Tennessee Volunteers team running through the 'T' before the game against the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium on September 24, 2022, in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Donald Page/Getty Images)
Pruitt was fired in January 2021 after three seasons following an internal investigation by the university.
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The committee said the former head coach had "failed to monitor his staff when at least a dozen members of the football staff committed more than 200 violations of NCAA rules over a two-year period and did not self-report any of those violations."
Pruitt was given a six-year show-cause penalty, meaning he would be suspended for a full season if another NCAA school were to hire him.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"During the head coach's tenure, he and other members of his staff acted with general and blatant disregard for rules compliance," the panel said.
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Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt walks to the sideline during the 2020 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl game between the Indiana University Hoosiers and the Tennessee Volunteers on January 2, 2020, at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, FL. (Photo by Mary Holt/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Tennessee avoided a postseason ban in the decision but will be placed on probation for five years, assessed a fine of $8 million and will have their football scholarships reduced by 28 during the five-year probation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tennessee was credited with 16 self-imposed scholarship reductions from the past two years.
The panel stated the violations "resulted in impermissible inducements and benefits totaling approximately $60,000."
"Our athletics department, including our football program, is fiercely competitive and committed to winning the right way. We have navigated this case during a significant change at the NCAA, and we are pleased with how it was ultimately resolved. We always wanted to be accountable but were unwilling to sacrifice our innocent student-athletes' ability to play in the postseason," the Tennessee athletics department said in a statement. "The NCAA membership agreed with us, as reflected in the new constitution and bylaws."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Three other former staff members were also given show-cause penalties.
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University of Tennessee Volunteers coach Jeremy Pruitt on the sideline during the 2019 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl college football game between the Indiana University Hoosiers and the University of Tennessee Volunteers on January 2, 2020, at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Aaron Gilbert/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Most of the violations came from a "paid unofficial visit scheme" that was used by the football program over a two-year period.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It involved at least a dozen members of the football staff and included at least "110 impermissible hotel room nights, 180 impermissible meals, 72 instances of providing impermissible entertainment or other benefits, 41 impermissible recruiting contacts, 37 instances of providing impermissible game day parking, and 14 times in which gear was impermissibly provided to prospects."
Two prospects also received cash payments from the former head coach and/or his wife, according to the report.
The Volunteers are coming off an 11-2 season under head coach Josh Huepel, the first season with double-digit wins since 2007.