Former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has been keeping a low profile since his dismissal in 2021. It’s a good thing he has, because the NCAA is keeping a very close eye on him.
On Friday, the NCAA announced that “hundreds of violations” took place in the Tennessee Volunteers football program over Pruitt’s three-year tenure with the program. The violations included 18 Level 1 violations which encompassed “more than 200 individual infractions — most of which involved recruiting rules violations and direct payments to prospects, current student-athletes and their families.”
Tennessee managed to avoid a bow ban and the death penalty thanks to their cooperation with the NCAA and a series of self-imposed penalties. But Pruitt is going to have a rough road ahead of him.
Pruitt was handed a six-year show-cause order. Now even if he does get another coaching job in college football, he will have to sit out the entire first season.
Hundreds of violations occurred in Tennessee football program over 3 seasons:https://t.co/qUTvW51PKe
— NCAA PR (@NCAA_PR) July 14, 2023
Jeremy Pruitt went just 16-19 in three years with the Volunteers. The former Alabama defensive coordinator spent the 2021 season as a senior defensive assistant for the New York Giants, but was not retained for the 2022 season and was out of football last year.
It seems safe to say that we won’t be seeing Pruitt much of anywhere on Saturdays for a good, long while after this.