Tennessee responds to NCAA notice of allegations, places full blame on Jeremy Pruitt

Tennessee has responded to the NCAA’s notice of allegations that stemmed from when Jeremy Pruitt was the team’s head coach. In the notice of allegations, the NCAA found that Tennessee “failed to monitor the football program” while Pruitt was committing violations. However, Tennessee disputes this, saying the school was deceived by Pruitt.

Knox News originally obtained Tennessee’s 108-page response to the NCAA. In it, the university disputed five of the 18 Level 1 violations that the NCAA found. Otherwise, it agreed with the NCAA’s findings, putting the blame at Jeremy Pruitt’s feet.

Among the things the university agreed with is that nearly $60,000 was paid to players and their families by Jeremy Pruitt and his staff.

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However, Tennessee argued it was not guilty of failing to monitor its football program, which is the largest of the violations levied against it by the NCAA. Instead, the university argued it was kept in the dark by Jeremy Pruitt, his wife Casey, several assistant coaches and recruiters, and a rogue booster.

“Despite the University’s monitoring efforts, athletics administrators and athletics compliance staff members were repeatedly deceived by the football program,” Tennessee said in response to the NCAA. “The University respectfully submits that it is unrealistic to expect an institution to prevent, or immediately detect, the intentional and concealed misconduct that occurred in this case.”

Tennessee further argued that Jeremy Pruitt and others ignored the university’s efforts to monitor him and the program. It further argued that there is evidence the university monitored the program within industry standards.

“The factual information in this case demonstrates that experienced football coaches and non-coaching staff members knowingly violated longstanding and universally understood NCAA rules and went to considerable lengths to conceal their misconduct. The record also supports that the University monitored football recruiting visits in accordance with industry standards.”

The position that Tennessee is taking here is important. It’s admitting that violations occurred and then placing all of the blame on Jeremy Pruitt. This allows them to make a legal argument for firing him for cause and not paying his buyout. It also would make it so the school isn’t the guilty party. Whether that argument works remains to be seen.