The NCAA officially made a conclusion about their case against the University of Tennessee and head coach Jeremy Pruitt after an inquiry that lasted more than a year and nearly 32 months.
The NCAA penalized Tennessee on Friday, imposing various recruiting restrictions, a $8 million fine that the university would have to pay, five years of probation, and a decrease of 28 scholarships overall. Pruitt got a show-cause sentence of six years.
During the five years of probation, the Vols will also lose 36 official visits, including at least four annually. During its probationary period, Tennessee will also be required to forbid official visits to its ten regular-season home games, four of which must be against SEC clubs.
Ten more scholarship reductions are still owed by the Vols during their probationary period as a result of Tennessee’s self-imposed penalties, which have resulted in sixteen reductions over the previous two years and two more this year. Under the self-imposed sanctions, the Vols have already hosted two home games without official visitors, and they will need to host eight more during the probationary term.
During Tennessee’s probation, there will be a 28-week prohibition on recruiting communications, which will include one week in December and January and one week in March and June. The Vols received credit for 12 days in the fall of 2021 and 8 days in the spring of 2022, in addition to any days that were lowered during the academic year 2022–2023.
Pruitt’s six-year show-cause is accompanied by orders for a five-year show-cause for the former director of recruiting, a 10-year show-cause for the former assistant director of recruitment, Chantryce Boone for the former assistant director of recruiting, and Derrick Ansley for the former defensive coordinator.
All records from games in which student-athletes participated while ineligible will likewise be forfeited.
Donde Plowman, Chancellor: A Statement on the Decision
“Without imposing a post-season penalty, the NCAA Committee on Infractions revealed the findings of our football inquiry today.
We are dedicated to winning with integrity, as I have stated from the outset. We handled this issue, in my opinion, with integrity as well. We have always been dedicated to taking responsibility for our acts and those of others who commit wrongs, all the while defending the rights of student-athletes who were unrelated to the violations.
We acknowledge the gravity of the situation, and the sanctions imposed by the Committee on Infractions align with our expectations and the agreements we reached with the NCAA enforcement staff the previous year. Crucially, the Committee refrained from enforcing a post-season ban, a fundamental tenet that we have championed during this entire process. In order to resolve this issue in a fashion that complied with the new NCAA Constitution and Bylaws and acknowledged our institution’s excellent cooperation, the Committee and the NCAA enforcement team demonstrated leadership.
I am grateful for Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Danny White’s outstanding leadership in resolving this matter in the best interests of the university and our innocent student-athletes. Danny White took up this case on his first day on the job. In a relatively short period of time, he and Coach Josh Heupel have completely changed the football program’s and the sports department’s culture.
The case has been closed with our satisfaction. Regarding Tennessee Athletics’ future, I am incredibly excited.
Tennessee Athletics statement
Our football team and the rest of our athletics department are fiercely competitive and dedicated to winning the right way. We handled this matter through a period of substantial change at the NCAA, and we are happy with the way it was settled in the end. Although we have always desired accountability, we were not prepared to jeopardize the postseason prospects of our defenseless student-athletes.
The revised constitution and bylaws show that the NCAA membership agreed with us.
Our first concern throughout this process has been safeguarding our student-athletes and preventing them from losing out on postseason participation.
We are thrilled to put this case behind us and are looking forward to opening the season versus Virginia in Nashville on September 2.
In July 2022, Tennessee received a Letter of Allegations from the NCAA.
In July 2022, Tennessee got their letter containing the claims. The program was accused of 18 Level I breaches in the notice of complaints. Among the infractions were the nearly $60,000 in gifts or cash that Pruitt, his wife, many coaches, recruiting personnel, and at least one supporter gave to players and their families.
The University argues that of the eighteen Level I infractions, the failure to monitor charge is the most serious. Tennessee officials believe the failure to supervise charge is unjustified because they fired all those responsible for the infractions as soon as they were discovered.A post-season ban is one potential penalty for that infraction, something the university has opposed from the start.
Plowman states that the office of general counsel launched an investigation into a possible football recruiting violation as soon as her agency got a reliable report on November 13, 2020. After six days, Tennessee selected Bond, Schoeneck & King as its principal attorney to oversee the almost one-year probe, which resulted in legal expenditures for the university exceeding $1.2 million.
Plowman stated that she was astounded by the severity of the infractions and the attempts to hide them on the day Pruitt was fired in January 2021, as that probe grew more intense.
At the press conference announcing Pruitt’s termination, Plowman stated, “What is so disturbing is the number of violations and the number of people involved and their efforts to conceal their activities from our compliance staff and leadership within the athletic department. This is demonstrated by the scope of the employee actions we are announcing today (the firing of nine employees).”
In April, the Vols appeared before the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
Tennessee appeared before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on April 19 and 20, a two-day hearing that lasted more than 20 hours. Pruitt, his wife Kasey, former Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer, Plowman, and assistant athletic director Tyler Johnson all spoke in person to the committee. Despite their best efforts, Tennessee was unable to come to a settlement and refute the failure to monitor charge.Greg Sankey, a commissioner of the SEC, was also present to support his member school. Sankey was once a member of the Committee on Infractions.
Former defensive coordinator Derek Ansley, who was mentioned in two infractions, participated in the hearing by Zoom in addition to those in person. Bethany Gunn, a former recruiter who is implicated in several offenses, participated virtually in the court as well. Participating by Zoom at the hearing was former tight ends coach Brian Neidermeyer, who has worked out a settlement with the NCAA about his sanctions. Pruitt, Neidermeyer, and Gunn were all let go in January 2021. In total, nine workers were let go that month according to the preliminary findings of the inquiry.
Plowman declared that she was prepared to proceed after the hearing.
After the hearing, Plowman expressed gratitude to the infractions committee panel for their time and attention. This required a lot of labor. They will need to come to a choice. We are eager to hear the ruling so that we can continue with our football program and other sports.
Normally, the Committee on Infractions issues a decision ninety days following the conclusion of the hearing. Ninety days have passed since Tennessee left the hearing at The Westin in Cincinnati on Wednesday.
People from many areas of life and from all throughout the nation make up the committee of violations. Attorneys, representatives from all collegiate sports departments, previous coaches—including Jody Conradt, the former head coach of Texas women’s basketball—conference commissioners, and a former US attorney general are among them.
Tennessee was totally cooperative with the NCAA during the whole process, giving them access to all of their findings and letting them participate in any investigative interviews that were conducted. In her statement in July following receipt of the Notice of Allegations, Plowman mentioned that the University had received appreciation from the collegiate athletics governing body for the way in which they had carried out the investigation.
Tennessee battled the postseason ban in an effort to safeguard its players, both now and in the future.
Tennessee won seven games in Josh Heupel’s first season, earning them bowl eligibility. In light of the fact that the current team, coaches, and staff were unrelated to the accusations against Pruitt and his program, university authorities and athletic director Danny White decided against self-imposing a bowl suspension.
“Last fall, the university announced that we will not self-impose penalties that harm innocent student-athletes like postseason bans based upon the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer part of the institution,” Plowman said in her statement from July of last year. “While we will take appropriate responsibility,” Plowman added. Rules “shall guarantee to the greatest extent practicable that sanctions imposed for infractions do not punish programs or student-athletes not involved or implicated in the infraction(s),” according to the NCAA’s new constitution.
It should be mentioned that representatives from Tennessee have never argued against punishing the wrongdoing. The Vols’ position is that the penalty shouldn’t have any bearing on their present student-athletes.
Following the notification of charges, White released a statement saying, “As a University, we acknowledge the need to take responsibility for what transpired, but we remain dedicated to protecting our present and future student-athletes.”
