The NCAA’s infractions case against Tennessee is heading to a contested hearing.
School officials, former head football coach Jeremy Pruitt and former defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley are scheduled to appear before members of the Committee on Infractions later this month, in what’s become a somewhat contentious fight between each of the three parties and the association. The three parties received a letter announcing the three-day hearing, scheduled for April 19–21 in Cincinnati, multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated.
The case stems from serious recruiting misconduct committed by Pruitt and staff members under former athletic director Phillip Fulmer. The school received its Notice of Allegations in July, spelling out $60,000 worth of impermissible benefits and recruiting inducements provided to prospects over a three-year period by Pruitt, his wife and several football staff members—all of whom were fired in January 2021 after the university’s internal investigation uncovered alleged wrongdoing.
Despite months of negotiations, a resolution between the school and the NCAA, as well as the coaches and the NCAA, has not been reached. Reasons remain unclear, though potential penalties are believed to range from multiyear show causes for those involved to further probationary sanctions for the school.
Tennessee declined comment. An NCAA spokesperson also declined comment on the hearing, referring to the NCAA’s previous announcement of negotiated resolutions with other parties in the case.
In February four former UT staff members were sanctioned with multiyear show-cause penalties for their roles in the case. Inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer, outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton, director of player personnel Drew Hughes and student assistant Michael Magness agreed to the penalties in negotiated resolutions they struck with the association.
Given the nature of the case, many expected the school to also reach a resolution with the NCAA. Even the governing body’s enforcement staff noted the school’s exemplary cooperation in the investigation.
Despite the 18 Level I violations—one of the highest totals in recent years of what are considered the most egregious on the NCAA’s infractions scale—the university was not hit with the dreaded “lack of institutional control,” largely because of its transparency and integrity in promptly handling the wrongdoing, NCAA documents state. The institution showed strong cooperation with NCAA investigators, conducted a thorough internal investigation of its own and took immediate steps in both dismissing the culprits and sanctioning itself.
The university docked itself 12 football scholarships last season, as well as imposed several more recruiting penalties. Yet the two parties have not reached a resolution.
In the NCAA’s peer-review model, there are three paths to a resolution: a traditional hearing, summary disposition or negotiated resolution. Most cases (about 70% from 2020 to ’22) are settled without a hearing.
At a hearing, the NCAA enforcement staff and each party, often with legal representation, present their side before a portion of the Committee on Infractions, the ruling group normally made up of school administrators. A ruling is typically made within six to eight weeks, though that time period can stretch longer.
Pruitt is likely in line for stiff penalties. There were 18 allegations of blatant recruiting misconduct from Pruitt and staff, transpiring as early as September 2018 (his 10th month on the job) and extending through the COVID-19 dead period of ’20. All the allegations are Level I.
In the most serious of allegations, Pruitt and staff hosted at least six prospects and their families on nine weekend unofficial visits during the year-long dead period, providing them with lodging, meals, transportation, household goods and even furniture that totaled $12,000. Pruitt himself is charged with having made cash payments of $3,000 and $6,000 to two prospects’ mothers, the first used to assist in medical bills and the other for a downpayment on a vehicle.
Pruitt is out of coaching, and Ansley recently got promoted to defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers. Tennessee, meanwhile, made sweeping changes in the wake of the case. Danny White took over as athletic director for Fulmer, and he hired Josh Heupel as head coach. In just his second season, Heupel led the Volunteers to an 11–2 season and an Orange Bowl victory.
