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The University of Tennessee He now knows exactly what the NCAA investigation into recruiting football abuses faces under fired coach Jeremy Pruitt.
In a notification of allegations filed Friday with the league, the NCAA lists 18 violations and nearly $60,000 in cash or gifts given to players and their families by Pruitt, his wife, several coaches, recruiting staff, and at least one supporter.
Knox News obtained the 51-page document on Friday.
In its notification of the allegations, the National Anti-Corruption Commission attributed Tennessee to self-reporting of abuses and its “exemplary cooperation” in the investigation. Nor did it find the university lacking institutional oversight, an important decision that likely removes the program from the program’s crippling sanction levels.
The NCAA claims that Pruitt and his employees gave players money and gifts throughout his tenure with Vols from 2018-21. She says his wife, Casey Pruitt, paid more than $15,000 in rent and car payments to the Tennessee player and his mother over the course of two and a half years.
All of the 18 violations are Level One, the most serious in the National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment’s four-level structure.
They include alleged wrongdoing by Jeremy and Casey Pruitt; assistant coaches Derek Ansley, Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermayer; and cast members Drew Hughes, Bethany Gunn and Chantres Boone.
Key players in the allegations:Learn about the culprits in the Tennessee football recruitment scandal of Jeremy Pruitt
None of the people named in the allegations are no longer employed in Tennessee: they were either fired or left alone after the university began its own investigation in November 2020. Tennessee Pruitt was eventually fired for some reason, an unusual move at the highest level in college and athletics , a decision that could be a major factor in reducing the penalty for the football programme.
The National Assessment and Accreditation Authority (NCAA) is doing its best to applaud the way university leaders handled the scandal, saying that “actions taken by the institution during the investigation should be the standard for any institutional investigations into potential abuse.”
The report lists 32 cases of recruits or players receiving money or gifts, but because the names have been redacted, it’s impossible to know how many individual players the NCAA has identified because some of them may have been involved in multiple violations.
Now comes the punishment phase of the case.
Tennessee and the persons mentioned have 90 days to respond to the notice of allegations. Then, the NCAA implementation team has 60 days to respond to these responses.
Could Tennessee Cooperation Mean Lighter Sanctions?
The document reflects the earnest tone that UT Counsellor Donde Plowman made in January 2021. That’s when Pruitt, along with assistant coaches and seven employees, was fired for some reason, and announced that a college investigation had uncovered evidence of gross and serious NCAA violations under Pruitt’s watch.
“At every step of this process, the university’s swift and decisive actions embody the established values of the NCAA that are affirmed in the new membership constitution,” Bluman said.
more:Why Tennessee Football Could Avoid the NCAA Hammer in Jeremy Pruitt’s Recruiting Scandal
“While NCAA regulations prohibit the university from publicly commenting on specific allegations, the university has and will continue to seek to resolve this issue in line with the new NCAA constitution and for the benefit of the University of Tennessee.
In January, the NCAA approved a new constitution that calls for punishment of individuals rather than “student athletes who are innocent of wrongdoing,” and post-season bans are rarely enforced as penalties.
Tennessee has not imposed a pot ban because it does not want players to be penalized for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer in the program, although sources close to the situation told Knox News that Tennessee imposed self-restrictions last year on hiring and scholarships without public announcement.
Here are the 18 violations listed in the Notice of Allegations:
violation 1
From late July to mid-November 2020, six recruits made unofficial visits to campus and accepted cash or gifts during dead enlistment periods amid the COVID-19 pandemic. None of these recruits registered in Tennessee.
Coaches Jeremy Pruitt, Ansley, Felton, Niedermayer, recruiters John and Boone and an unnamed student assistant arranged or provided $12,173 in hotel accommodations, meals, entertainment, transportation and team clothing.
Also, Casey Pruitt arranged to meet a real estate agent with the family of a recruiter.
Violation 2
Jeremy Pruitt, John and Boone arranged or provided $12,707 to the player in hotel accommodations, meals, airfare, other transportation, parking, furniture, and household items from October 2018 to December 2020.
This included Jeremy Pruitt paying $3,000 in cash to the player’s mother to help pay off a medical bill debt. The Gifts began when Tennessee was recruiting prospect and continued after he enrolled and played in Vol.
Violation 3
Casey Pruitt made $12,500 in cash car payments — 25 payments of $500 each — and $3,000 in cash lease payments to the player and his mother from September 2018 to March 2021. The gifts started during the prospect’s recruitment and continued after they signed up and played in Folders.
That represents most of the unauthorized temptations he made for Jeremy, Casey Pruitt, Felton, Niedermayer and John of $23,260. The rest included hotel stays, meals, entertainment, team clothing and one-day parking.
Notably, Casey Pruitt worked for the NCAA Compliance Office in Florida in 2013 when she met Jeremy Pruitt, then the Defense Coordinator for Seminoles. It was tasked with verifying players’ eligibility and ensuring that the athletics department followed NCAA rules. I also worked in the Compliance Office of Troy University.
Violation 4
Gunn and Hughes provided or arranged $1,983 for a recruit and his family from November 2018 to December 2019, including hotel accommodations, game-day parking and team clothing. The recruit then joined Tennessee and played in The Vols.
Violation 5
Niedermeyer and Gunn arranged or provided $2,463 to the recruit and his family from January to December 2019, including cash, hotel accommodations, entertainment, transportation and team clothing.
Niedermayer also paid the recruit $750 cash at his high school, gave more gifts during an informal visit, and accompanied the recruit and his family on a trip to Knoxville on an official visit. The recruiter did not register in Tennessee.
Violations 6 and 7
Gunn arranged or provided a combined sum of $1,755 to two recruits and their families, including hotel accommodations, meals, and parking on game day. Both recruits enrolled in Tennessee and played in Vol.
offense 8
From January 2019 to November 2020, coaches and staff provided $3,919 to 13 recruits and their families in cash, hotel accommodations, meals, entertainment, transportation, and team clothing. Nine of Tennessee’s registered recruits, including six who played in games for the Vols.
Jeremy Pruitt, Felton, Ansley, John, Boone, and Hughes arranged or provided benefits. Instructors also made unauthorized contact with a recruit during the COVID-19 dead recruiting period.
Violation 9
At least seven Tennessee footballers were awarded $1,338 in cash from April to November 2020 to cover living expenses and other costs accrued from hosting prospects for unauthorized enlistment visits during the COVID-19 death period.
Jeremy Pruitt, Niedermayer, John, Boone, and an unnamed student recruiting assistant arranged or made the payments. Four of the players played in Falls matches.
10-16 . Violations
A Level 1 violation was assigned to Jeremy Pruitt, Felton, Niedermayer, John, Boone, Hughes, and an unnamed student recruiting assistant, for unethical conduct.
The investigation found that they knowingly provided impermissible temptations to recruits, provided false information to investigators and influenced others to do so.
17- The offense
The investigation concluded that Jeremy Pruitt had committed a first-coach responsibility offense because he had failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance in the football program and staff monitoring from September 2018 to January 2021.
That period spanned all but the first eight months of his tenure.
Violation 18
The investigation found that the university failed to monitor the football program’s recruiting plans to ensure employees followed NCAA rules during Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure. However, the university has not been shown to have committed the worst violation of lack of institutional oversight.
Case cost so far
Tennessee paid $1.12 million in legal fees to Bond, Schoeneck & King from November 2020 to February 2022 to work on the NCAA case, according to bills the university filed with Knox News after a public records request. The latest fees, which are billed every three months, are not yet available.
It still pales in comparison to the $12.6 million takeover that the university refused to pay Pruitt when he was fired over the allegations.
Connect with Adam Sparks at [email protected] and on Twitter @AdamSparks.
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