The Tennessee Volunteers have been fined over $8 million for more than 200 NCAA infractions committed during the three-year college football head coaching stint of Jeremy Pruitt from 2018-2020.
Included in those infractions were 18 "Level 1" violations. These involved "recruiting infractions and direct payments to athletes and their families — benefits that totaled approximately $60,000," according to the Associated Press.
Despite the volume of violations and hefty fines, the football program isn't facing a postseason ban.
So is this bad? Tennessee fined $8 million by NCAA pic.twitter.com/mF2FVsMiNS
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 14, 2023
NCAA Explains Punishment for Tennessee Football' Infractions
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images
It's said that the NCAA panel made a difficult decision given the circumstances.
"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."
Included in the decision, the NCAA said that the school "failed to monitor its football program," stating:
"Additionally, due to his personal involvement in the violations, the former head coach violated head coach responsibility rules," according to the document.
In response, Tennessee chief communications officer Jason Baum said the school wouldn't comment further in an email to the Associated Press.
The panel found that most of the violations were from a "paid unofficial visit scheme," which the school did routinely over two years.
Here are the violations:
- 110 impermissible hotel room nights
- 180 impermissible meals
- Impermissible "entertainment or other benefits" on 72 occasions
- 41 impermissible recruiting contacts
- 37 impermissible game day parking instances
- Gear provided to prospects impermissibly 14 times
With this, the dark days of Tennessee are hopefully behind it, with Josh Heupel now at the helm. The Volunteers are 18-8 over the past three years and had a stellar season in 2022 before quarterback Hendon Hooker was injured, including a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide.
