The University of Tennessee was fined more than $8 million after the NCAA found upwards of 200 infractions during Jeremy Pruitt’s three-year tenure as the school’s head football coach.
The violations included 18 Level 1 violations involving “recruiting rules violations and direct payments to prospects, current student-athletes and their families,” according to the report.
The Volunteers avoided a bowl ban after the university cooperated with the investigation.
Pruitt, who was fired in January 2021 along with several other staff members, was given a six-year show-cause order and will have to sit out the first season if he’s able to land another job during that window.
The school’s recruiting director, assistant director of recruiting and an assistant coach at the time were also given five-year, 10-year and two-year show-causes, respectively.
Tennessee’s football program will lose 28 scholarships and 36 official visits throughout its five-year probation period.
The violations were “egregious and expansive,” according to Kay Norton, who led the NCAA panel that ruled on the university, via the Associated Press.
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“It’s one of the largest cases this committee has ever adjudicated,” she added.
Pruitt coached the Volunteers from 2018 through 2020, having been fired when the investigations into improper benefits began.
Tennessee went 16-19 during Pruitt’s three-year tenure.
He worked on Joe Judge’s New York Giants staff as a defensive assistant during the 2021 NFL season but did not return in 2022.
The Volunteers are 18-8 under Josh Heupel since Pruitt’s dismissal.
“Excited that we’re able to reach a great conclusion here,” Heupel said Friday on ESPN Radio, per on3.com. “… We wanted to protect our athletes and make sure they had an opportunity to compete for championships. We were able to do that. Really happy that we get a chance to put this behind us and move forward now.”
