Jeremy Pruitt on returning to high school football: 'I'm having more fun today than I've had in a long time'

Jeremy Pruitt returned to coaching at Plainview High School (Ala.) to coach under his father Dale and he’s having a blast.

The former Tennessee head coach, whose tenure ended in scandal over recruiting violations, spent one season on the New York Giants staff in 2021 before coming back home. Plainview is Pruitt’s alma mater and where he got his start in coaching following a grad assistant year at Alabama in 1997.

But Pruitt is having the time of his life and he gets to be surrounded by family.

“It’s interesting, you know … a lot of my guys that I’ve worked with over the years have asked me, you know, do I really like what I’m doing now,” Pruitt said, via Max Cohan. “and I’m probably having more fun today than I’ve had in a very long time. I’m living in the community that I grew up (in) … I saw thing. I think yesterday on Facebook or a couple of days ago, the second winningest  high school coach right now and I think Dad was number four or five …

“(I’m) close to my mom, my dad, my brothers, sisters, family, I get to coach young men that maybe I had coached their parents or brothers sisters, aunts, uncles. Went to school with them over the years, so I’m really having a good time and I get to be around my kids.”

Pruitt was initially hired at Plainview last year as a physical education teacher.

His NCAA infractions case stemming from his time at Tennessee reached a conclusion in 2023, handing him a six-year show-cause. Pruitt was the head coach at Tennessee from 2018-20, and his tenure ended when Tennessee self-reported an array of NCAA violations.

The penalties stem from an original report from the NCAA, alleging and detailing 18 NCAA violations, including an allegation of $60,000 in cash or gifts given to football recruits or players by Pruitt, his wife, numerous coaches, staff and boosters. 

All 18 of the violations are Level I violations. Level I is the most severe infraction on the scale from one through four.

The NCAA claimed that Pruitt and staff gave players cash and gifts throughout his tenure in Knoxville, which spanned from 2018 to 2021. The report also details that his wife, Casey Pruitt, paid more than $15,000 in rent and car payments for a Tennessee player and his mother. That arrangement reportedly went on for two and a half years.

Prior to taking the Tennessee job, Pruitt had been the defensive coordinator at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State along with serving in a number of other roles at various college and high school programs.