This is MASSIVE: NCAA unearths major scandal in Tennessee as Jeremy Pruitt reportedly offered

April 2024 · 4 minute read

The NCAA just stumbled upon a huge scandal that was done by one of the top institutes’ colleges. Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruit, his wife, and other members of his coaching staff offered up to $60,000 worth of impermissible benefits all prohibited by the league rules and other incentives to recruit over two dozen athletes over a three-year period. As per an official notice of allegations from the NCAA, Pruitt used to speak to the athletes and their families first and then transfer the benefits in such a way that it was not easy to notice.

SI managed to get its hands on some of the integral documents in this matter. The 51-page document that was sent to the school on Friday highlights 18 instances where the coach indulged in recruiting misconduct, the earliest instance can be traced back to September 2018, things got worse as the pandemic hit when there was no authority out there to keep a tab on coaches.

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Jeremy Pruitt’s wife is also involved in the scandal:

Pruitt is accused of offering nearly $9,000 to the mothers of two prospects, his wife is accused of making over 25 cash payments amounting to $12,500 to help a prospect’s mother to make her payments. Tennessee which fired Pruit in January 2021 after its internal investigation into the allegations has not yet been charged with lack of institutional control due to its cooperation with investigators. The NCAA issued a notice of allegations sent to the University and it seems the college has evaded the biggest obstacle by avoiding institutional control charges.

Sources indicate that Tennessee has already self-imposed nearly 12 scholarship reductions last year along with other recruiting restrictions. The University retained former NCAA investigator Michael Glazier and the Bond, Schoeneck & King law firm to assist in its internal investigation and paid nearly $1.1 million to investigate. Pruitt was bought out for $12.6 million but he was fired for cause and the University reportedly has no intention of buying him out.

Coach Pruitt issued a statement, “A lot of this information in the NCAA’s report, I’m seeing for the first time and still reading through it. I’d rather not comment a whole lot past that, other than to say that I’m looking forward to telling my side of the story somewhere down the road.”

The league states that as many as 12 athletes who received impermissible benefits played in over 60 games and all of which were ‘ineligible.’ Coach Pruitt was also charged with failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance and failure to monitor his staff. He is also charged with violating NCAA principles of ethical conduct when “he knowingly arranged, offered,and provided prospective and enrolled student-athletes and their family members or individuals associated with prospective student-athletes with improper inducements and extra benefits in the form of impermissible entertainment and cash payments to numerous individuals,” the notice stated.

The NCAA also accused the coach of hosting six recruits and their families during a yearlong period in programs that were not supposed to have on-campus recruitment activities as we were at the peak of COVID at the time. The recruits were reportedly given benefits amounting to $12,000.

Casey Pruitt, the coach’s wife paid nearly $3,200 for an anonymous person to pay a security deposit and initial rent payment in order to relocate to Tennessee. She has had experience working for compliance departments at Troy, Oklahoma, and Florida State, where she met Jeremy Pruitt.

Tennessee and everyone named in the report have 90 days to respond to the notice of all allegations, the NCAA staff will then have 60 days to respond back. A source claims that we can expect the case to be fully adjudicated only in 2023.

Coach Pruitt was 16-19 at Tennessee and went 10-16 against SEC opponents. His team was 2-11 against AP-ranked opponents, who in his first year of coaching worked in the capacity of senior defensive analyst for the Giants in 2021.

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