KNOXVILLE, TN – The NCAA Tennessee was fined more than $8 million on Friday and released a damning report detailing more than 200 violations during former football coach Jeremy Pruitt. The volunteers escaped a post-season suspension.
The extensive report said Tennessee had 18 Level I violations, the most serious, and said most involved violations in recruitment and direct payments to athletes and their families — totaling about $60,000 in benefits.
The NCAA commended Tennessee for working together and the Vols escaped the postseason suspension, but the violations panel noted the decision was difficult given the circumstances.
“The panel faced a number of difficult circumstances related to the imposition of penalties in this case,” the decision said. “The Panel urges the Violations Trial Committee and members to clearly define its philosophy on penalties – which goes beyond post-season suspensions – and to encapsulate that philosophy in an updated set of Penalty Guidelines.”
Four former employees received demonstration ordersincluding one over six years for Pruitt, who was released in early 2021.
The NCAA report said the school failed to oversee its football program. “Furthermore, the former head coach has violated the head coach’s responsibility rules due to his personal involvement in the violations,” the document reads.
Tennessee’s chief communications officer Jason Baum said in an email to The Associated Press the school would not comment until after the NCAA’s Friday afternoon briefing.
The NCAA found that most of the violations were related to a paid unofficial visiting program that the football program used consistently for two years.
This involved at least a dozen members of the football team and the resulting violations included at least 110 improper hotel nights, 180 improper meals, 72 counts of providing improper hospitality or other benefits, 41 improper solicitation contacts and 37 counts of providing improper games According to the report, the provided the equipment improperly to potential customers in 14 cases.
The NCAA also found that Pruitt or his wife were involved in improper payments to two prospects who later signed with Tennessee. A gambler’s mother received $6,000 from Pruitt’s wife as a down payment on a car.
After the mother’s son signed with the Vols, Pruitt’s wife paid the woman $500 for the car at least 25 times a month. The mother also received $1,600 from Pruitt’s wife as bail on a Knoxville-area rental home.
The mother of a second prospect told Pruitt that she needed a medical procedure that she could not afford. The NCAA found that Pruitt had given her an envelope containing $3,000 for medical bills. Records obtained by Tennessee show that the prospect’s mother deposited $5,100 into her bank account two days after a similar amount ($5,000) was withdrawn from the head coach’s bank account.
Pruitt also gave the woman $300 to pay for gas.
Both players participated in 23 games while ineligible, the NCAA noted.
“During the head coach’s tenure, he and other members of his staff acted in general and blatant disregard for rule compliance,” the NCAA panel said.
The panel was also concerned about a former staffer who said she failed to report violations because she feared retaliation and backlash, which “highlights the toxic culture that reigned under the head coach’s leadership,” the report said .
The NCAA’s final decision ends a troubling chapter in Vols football, although Pruitt’s firing opened the door for Tennessee’s resurgence under his successor Josh Heupel, who took the team to an 18th place finish in the past three seasons with a win over Southeastern Conference heavyweight Alabama :8 record last year.
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