Former Tennessee Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt receives some not-so-good news to end the week
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt ended the week with some not-so-good news. The NCAA announced on Friday that Pruitt lost his appeal regarding the penalties he received last summer from the recruiting scandal that led to his firing at Tennessee. Release via NCAA.com: After an appeal by Jeremy Pruitt, former Tennessee head football […]
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt ended the week with some not-so-good news.
The NCAA announced on Friday that Pruitt lost his appeal regarding the penalties he received last summer from the recruiting scandal that led to his firing at Tennessee.
Release via NCAA.com: After an appeal by Jeremy Pruitt, former Tennessee head football coach, the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee affirmed the findings of violations related to recruiting, impermissible benefits and ethical conduct rules. The appealed violations stem from payments made to the mothers of a prospective student-athlete and a current student-athlete and the provision of misleading information regarding those payments. On July 14, 2023, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions issued its decision regarding the Tennessee football program and Pruitt. After the committee issued this decision, Pruitt filed an appeal asserting that the findings of violations regarding monetary benefits were not supported by the case record, which in turn would then not support a finding that he provided false or misleading information during the investigation. Generally, he challenged the credibility of the information used by the Committee on Infractions to determine its decision. In addition to the appealed findings, the Committee on Infractions also found that Pruitt violated other recruiting, impermissible benefits and head coach responsibility rules. He did not appeal those other findings. After review of the case record, the Infractions Appeals Committee affirmed the appealed findings of violations because Pruitt failed to demonstrate that there was a lack of information in the case record to support the decision by the Committee on Infractions. Additionally, he failed to show that no reasonable person would have made the same determinations based on the credibility of the witnesses and information.
It was always a long shot that Pruitt would win his appeal — due to the amount of evidence that supports the NCAA's findings (much of which was provided by Tennessee to the NCAA).
However, it's still absurd that Pruitt is facing a one-year suspension and a six-year show cause ban over impermissible benefits (much of which was spent on rent, medical bills, etc) that totaled around $60k.
We're living in an era where student-athletes are earning seven figures in some cases, yet Pruitt can't return to college football as an assistant because of recruiting violations that don't even equal one month's NIL pay for some of the nation's top players.
It's just another example of the NCAA lacking any common sense.
There are plenty of mixed opinions when it comes to Pruitt, but I think everyone can agree that he's getting railroaded by the NCAA.
