Eli Drinkwitz on NCAA allegations against Tennessee: I gotta question my wife's commitment to winning

Last week, news broke that the NCAA handed down a notice of 18 infractions found against the Tennessee football program, including allegations of violations committed by former head coach Jeremy Pruitt, his wife, members of the staff and/or boosters – and Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz commented on the situation on a recent episode of The Jim Rome Show.

“I thought you were going to introduce my record, but with the latest allegations against Tennessee – lets hold up on what my record is – cause I expect to vacate some wins and that’s going to help my record a little bit,” Drinkwitz said when he first joined the show.

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Pruitt and his staff hosted at least six recruiting prospects and their families on nine unofficial visits during the COVID dead period. Their lodging, meals, transportation, household goods and even furniture totaled $12,000. Allegations also detail that his wife, Casey Pruitt, paid more than $15,000 in rent and car payments for a Tennessee player and his mother.

“Yeah, I mean, me personally, I gotta question my wife’s commitment to winning,” Drinkwitz told Rome. “I don’t know how much she’s committed if she’s not engaging in some of these things – I didn’t know that was fair play. It was a little bit surprising to see the in-depth nature of what was going on there, but I am sure glad that Tennessee was taking some ownership of it and we’ll see what the results are.”

Everyone involved in the NCAA’s investigation are no longer with the Volunteers program, according to the initial report from KnoxNews. In three seasons, Pruitt amassed a 16-19 record as head coach of the Vols and has since been replaced with Josh Heupel and in one year has the program in better shape than Pruitt did in his entire tenure.

“Pressure does crazy things to people, and there’s a lot of pressure to win in the SEC,” Drinkwitz said.