Good luck, buddy.
Former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt has sued the NCAA and says he’s been “subject to an unfair, wrongful, and inconsistent NCAA investigation and ruling with potentially career-ending penalties.”
Pruitt was fired from his job with the Volunteers in January of 2021 after allegations of improper payments to players.
Tennessee cited the allegations as a reason to fire Pruitt with cause and not pay the buyout on his contract. In 2023, Pruitt was handed a six-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA for his role in the payment scheme. Tennessee was fined $8 million as the NCAA cited the school’s “exemplary cooperation” in the investigation regarding 18 rules violations.
In his suit, Pruitt claims that he learned after he was fired “that one or more individuals in the UT Athletics Department or boosters had systematically engaged in making payments to players at a time when NCAA rules did not allow such payments. It is believed persons within the UT Athletics Department solicited and received money from high profile businessmen and alumni to fund the clandestine payments to the players. Jeremy was unaware of this activity during his tenure at UT. It is believed UT intentionally hid the scheme from Jeremy based on Jeremy’s willingness to report violations — like he did to [then-athletic director Phillip Fulmer] within his first week of coaching at UT.
Pruitt also claims in the suit that Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman told him that he “did nothing wrong.” Pruitt’s firing came after Tennessee began an internal investigation and eight other members of the football program were also terminated as a result of the investigation. The firings happened weeks after the NCAA began its own investigation.
As part of its decision in 2023, the NCAA said that Tennessee football staffers “arranged and paid for hotel lodging, meals, entertainment and other inducements for the prospects and those who traveled to Knoxville with them. The staff also involved enrolled football student-athletes in the scheme, asking them to act as hosts for the visiting prospects and providing them with cash to offset their hosting expenses.
Many of the visits took place during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, when official and unofficial visits were strictly prohibited to protect the health and safety of prospects, student-athletes and staff.
Additionally, the head coach and his wife provided substantial amounts of cash to certain prospects, student-athletes and their family members.”
Pruitt’s suit also says that “the NCAA punished Pruitt for something that is no longer illegal,” referring to the ability for players to now make money off their own image rights. “At the time of the hearing and punishment, the NCAA knew that the rules it was purporting to enforce were effectively made invalid by ruling of the United States Supreme Court. Jeremy Pruitt may be the last coach in America to be punished for impermissible player benefits.
Tennessee was 16-19 in Pruitt’s three seasons in charge from 2018-2020. In that time, the school had one winning season and went to one bowl game. The school has gone to a bowl in each of current coach Josh Heupel’s four seasons and has won 30 games over the past three seasons.
Pruitt hasn’t coached in college football since his firing and the suit contends that he’s lost $100 million in future wages. The two-year contract extension Pruitt signed in September of 2020 — as Tennessee began a 3-7 season — paid him more than $4 million per season and his buyout was north of $12 million at the time he was fired.
Ex-Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt sues NCAA over investigation that led to his firing
By: Nick Bromberg - Yahoo! SportsFormer Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt has sued the NCAA and says he’s been “subject to an unfair, wrongful, and inconsistent NCAA investigation and ruling with potentially career-ending penalties.”
Pruitt was fired from his job with the Volunteers in January of 2021 after allegations of improper payments to players.
Tennessee cited the allegations as a reason to fire Pruitt with cause and not pay the buyout on his contract. In 2023, Pruitt was handed a six-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA for his role in the payment scheme. Tennessee was fined $8 million as the NCAA cited the school’s “exemplary cooperation” in the investigation regarding 18 rules violations.
In his suit, Pruitt claims that he learned after he was fired “that one or more individuals in the UT Athletics Department or boosters had systematically engaged in making payments to players at a time when NCAA rules did not allow such payments. It is believed persons within the UT Athletics Department solicited and received money from high profile businessmen and alumni to fund the clandestine payments to the players. Jeremy was unaware of this activity during his tenure at UT. It is believed UT intentionally hid the scheme from Jeremy based on Jeremy’s willingness to report violations — like he did to [then-athletic director Phillip Fulmer] within his first week of coaching at UT.
Pruitt also claims in the suit that Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman told him that he “did nothing wrong.” Pruitt’s firing came after Tennessee began an internal investigation and eight other members of the football program were also terminated as a result of the investigation. The firings happened weeks after the NCAA began its own investigation.
As part of its decision in 2023, the NCAA said that Tennessee football staffers “arranged and paid for hotel lodging, meals, entertainment and other inducements for the prospects and those who traveled to Knoxville with them. The staff also involved enrolled football student-athletes in the scheme, asking them to act as hosts for the visiting prospects and providing them with cash to offset their hosting expenses.
Many of the visits took place during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, when official and unofficial visits were strictly prohibited to protect the health and safety of prospects, student-athletes and staff.
Additionally, the head coach and his wife provided substantial amounts of cash to certain prospects, student-athletes and their family members.”
Pruitt’s suit also says that “the NCAA punished Pruitt for something that is no longer illegal,” referring to the ability for players to now make money off their own image rights. “At the time of the hearing and punishment, the NCAA knew that the rules it was purporting to enforce were effectively made invalid by ruling of the United States Supreme Court. Jeremy Pruitt may be the last coach in America to be punished for impermissible player benefits.
Tennessee was 16-19 in Pruitt’s three seasons in charge from 2018-2020. In that time, the school had one winning season and went to one bowl game. The school has gone to a bowl in each of current coach Josh Heupel’s four seasons and has won 30 games over the past three seasons.
Pruitt hasn’t coached in college football since his firing and the suit contends that he’s lost $100 million in future wages. The two-year contract extension Pruitt signed in September of 2020 — as Tennessee began a 3-7 season — paid him more than $4 million per season and his buyout was north of $12 million at the time he was fired.
