Tennessee will also lose 28 scholarships as a result of the NCAA concluding its investigation into the program
after the NCAA Committee on Infractions found the program responsible for more than 200 individual violations, including 18 Level I in nature. Former coach Jeremy Pruitt was hit with a six-year show cause order, while the university will face probation, vacated wins and scholarship reductions, among numerous other penalties.
In lieu of a bowl ban, the football program will be put on probation for five years, pay an $8 million fine and be subject to an independent compliance review each year. Additionally, there will be a legislated fine of $5,000, 3% of the football budget and an additional fine to recoup money earned while the program was ineligible during the 2020 Gator Bowl. The program must also vacate 11 wins from the 2019–20 seasons, ESPN reports.
The fines given out were notably larger than those historically given out by the NCAA. However, the NCAA addressed the heightened fines as an offsetting move to avoid giving out bowl bans that would affect players and staff on campus who had no involvement with the violations.
“The panel encountered a challenging set of circumstances related to prescribing penalties in this case,” the NCAA panel said of its decision. “The panel urges the Infractions Process Committee and the membership to clearly define its philosophy regarding penalties, which extends beyond postseason bans, and memorialize that philosophy in an updated set of penalty guidelines.
In the wake of the ruling and the Vols avoiding any sort of postseason penalty, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was understandably excited about the program being cleared of a bowl ban.
“You don’t know until today what it’s actually going to be,” Heupel told ESPN. “It’s hugely important that our players are protected and that future players are protected as well. I’m really excited about the outcome.”
Two players who later enrolled at Tennessee received direct payments from either Pruitt or his wife. One player’s family received $7,600 to pay for down payments on a car and rental property, along with $500 a month for a car payment on at least 25 occasions. Another player’s mother told Pruitt that she could not pay for a needed medical procedure due to existing medical debt. Pruitt gave her $3,000 to use on medical bills and $300 additionally to help pay for gas.
The two players participated in 25 and 23 games, respectively, while ineligible, including during the aforementioned Gator Bowl. All games from that time period will ultimately be vacated
Additionally, Tennessee engaged in a scheme to skirt unofficial visit rules over two seasons during the recruitment of 29 players. The former recruiting director worked with a primary recruiter to book hotel rooms and pay for meals with cash. Additionally, the staff arranged for six athletes to visit campus during the COVID-19 dead period.
Additional punishments include:
- Tennessee will lose 28 scholarships over five years, with at least two lost each season. The program reduced scholarships by 16 over the first two seasons due to self-imposed sanctions, meaning current coach Josh Heupel and his staff must only sit 12 total scholarships short over the next three seasons.
- Pruitt’s six-year show cause is the most significant of the group, but it is not the only punishment. The director of recruiting and assistant director of recruiting at the time were hit with five-year and 10-year show-causes, respectively. A former assistant coach also has a two-year show cause.
- If Pruitt is hired during the six-year show-cause window, he will be suspended for his entire first season at a new job. Pruitt was briefly tied to the Alabama defensive coordinator job but was ultimately passed over for former Nick Saban assistant Kevin Steele.
- Tennessee will lose 36 official visits over the course of probation, and at least four per season. The Vols will have to select 10 regular-season games during which they cannot host official visits, including four SEC games. Unofficial visits will be reduced for 40 weeks over the next five years, and the staff will lose 28 total weeks of recruiting communication and in-person evaluation. Tennessee previously self-imposed several penalties to offset this.
The NCAA cited “exemplary cooperation” as to why the university was not hit with further penalties after the shocking number of violations. Additionally, the NCAA panel recognized Tennessee’s self-imposed punishments that will be credited towards their final tally.
Pruitt was fired as coach at Tennessee in January 2021 after three lackluster seasons with the program. The university fired him for cause and declined to pay a nearly $13 million buyout. Assistants Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermeyer were also fired, along with support staffers Drew Hughes and Michael Magness. The four stakeholders outside of Pruitt previously negotiated a partial settlement with the NCAA.
Pruitt’s lawyer threatened to sue Tennessee over the buyout in October 2021, but no lawsuit has been filed. Notably, the fines and legal costs for the volunteers will almost certainly dwarf the cost of the buyout.
The former national championship-winning assistant spent the 2021 season as a senior defensive assistant for the New York Giants. Felton and Niedermeyer now coach at the high school level at Valdosta (Georgia) High School and IMG Academy, respectively. Hughes works as player personnel coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, while Magness is out of college athletics.
