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Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt was given a six-year show-cause order as part of penalties handed down by the NCAA on Friday that occurred during his three-year tenure at the school. Pruitt was fired in 2021.
The NCAA fined Tennessee more than $8 million and issued a scathing report outlining more than 200 infractions. The Volunteers escaped a postseason ban.
The report of more than 80 pages said Tennessee committed 18 Level I violations, the most severe, and said most involved recruiting infractions and direct payments to athletes and their families — benefits that totaled approximately $60,000.
Kay Norton, head of the panel that ruled on Tennessee, called the violations “egregious and expansive.”
“It’s one of the largest cases this committee has ever adjudicated,” she said.
“The panel encountered a challenging set of circumstances related to prescribing penalties in this case,” it said in 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.”
Four other former staffers were given show-cause orders.
The NCAA report said the school failed to monitor its football program. “Additionally, due to his personal involvement in the violations, the former head coach violated head coach responsibility rules,” according to the document.
Pruitt served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator for two seasons (2014-15).
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