This Week in Coaching: Four former Tennessee staffers receive show-cause penalties, but what does the news mean for Jeremy Pruitt? Plus recapping a flurry of assistant movement

Earlier this week, four Tennessee staffers were slapped with multiyear “show-cause” penalties by the NCAA in a case regarding their roles involving recruiting violations under former Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt. 

Let’s break down what this all means, particularly for Jeremy Pruitt. 

Last July, Tennessee was sent a notice of allegations with 18 Level 1 infractions. It included an allegation of $60,000 in cash or gifts given to football recruits or players by Pruitt, his wife Casey, and numerous coaches, staff and boosters.

The four assistants — former Vols inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer, outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton, director of player personnel Drew Hughes and student assistant coach Michael Magness — are being handed three to five-year show-cause penalties as a result of a negotiated resolution, per Sports Illustrated. 

Those four individuals cooperated with the NCAA’s investigation, admitting to varying degrees of violations that included cash payments to prospects and impermissible contact with recruits during the COVID-19 dead period. 

Their “show-cause” essentially (*note is *some* wiggle room but it rarely if ever happens) means they cannot coach in collegiate athletics for that time period. 

Notably, just because four individuals settled, the NCAA has not resolved its case against Pruitt or the university. That remains open and ongoing.

The university, which has self-sanctioned scholarships but has avoided any self-imposed postseason ban, could still be hit with penalties. 

Similarly, Jeremy Pruitt remains in college football coaching purgatory until his part of the case is resolved. 

Thus far, Jeremy Pruitt has no intention of settling with the NCAA. Since he was fired in January of 2021, Pruitt has maintained that he had no direct knowledge of the violations by his staff. He remains in litigation with Tennessee, too, fighting over his $12.6 million buyout, which was voided because the Vols fired him with cause. 

But Jeremy Pruitt wants back into the game. Like now. It was an open secret that Nick Saban preferred to bring Pruitt home to Alabama and coordinate the Crimson Tide’s defense. Because the NCAA’s case against Pruitt remained open, though, Saban couldn’t gamble on hiring someone who might be unable to work at Alabama in six weeks. 

Time is the problem for Jeremy Pruitt right now. 

The NCAA has no timeline and could drag its case for years. Similarly, while it might seem a bit backward, Tennessee would prefer to just run out the clock on this thing, too. 

An immediate resolution could result in harsher penalties. The school is much less likely to get hit hard 5-10 years down the road. 

As the Knoxville News Sentinel’s columnist Blake Toppmeyer said, “No news is good news (for Tennessee).” 

Pruitt needs news, though. He needs his name cleared so that he can get back into coaching.

However, the purported evidence against him and his wife seems to suggest he’s facing an even stiffer show-cause penalty than his former assistants. The fact the NCAA now had four new witnesses doesn’t help, either. The biggest blow for Pruitt might just be that his argument that he didn’t know what was happening within his program won’t carry much water with the NCAA anymore, since the ordination has amended its bylaws in recent years to say that ignorance is no longer an excuse for culpability.

Though some have raised the point that a year after Tennessee was hit with giving impermissible benefits to recruits that the NCAA made NIL legal, but they’re apples and oranges. 

With with today’s laxer standards, the penalties Tennessee’s staff allegedly committed under Jeremy Pruitt would still be illegal in the NCAA’s eyes. 

So for now, Pruitt waits. But barring any Hail Mary argument or resolution, Jeremy Pruitt is unlikely to return to college coaching anytime soon.

RECAPPING A FLURRY OF ASSISTANT COACHING MOVEMENT AT ALABAMA

The coaching carousel simply won’t slow down, with staffs across the country continuing to hire new assistants or fills spots vacated by staffers leaving for the NFL.

Among the more notable hires in the last week, Alabama filled its lone on-field defensive opening by bringing fast-rising Liberty linebackers coach Robert Bala to Tuscaloosa. 

Last year, Bala was only a defensive analyst for Hugh Freeze, but in short time, the young coach made enough of an impression to get hired by Nick Saban. He worked with the Flames’ safeties, where Robert Rahimi led the team with five interceptions. Bala was Southern Utah’s defensive coordinator for two years before joining Liberty’s staff last offseason. 

Alabama has yet to make the hire official, but Freeze, who did not bring Bala to Auburn, has already delivered his thoughts on the move, saying he was “jealous that Nick got’em.”

“I typically don’t go outside of my tree too much, but I had him highly recommend to me at Liberty,” Freeze said in an appearance on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ on WJOX 94.5 FM earlier this week. 

“He was at Southern Utah, and he was wanting to break into the FBS level. And I interviewed him and was absolutely blown away by his knowledge, his demeanor for teaching. I think he’s a rising star. The guy was incredibly valuable, a great evaluator, and he’s a great human being. He and his wife are just super people.”

“Obviously, Nick and I are friends, and I know it’s hard for a lot of people to believe. But when Nick called me, I just said, ‘I think he’s really, really good, and you ought to interview him.’ Evidently, he did. I haven’t talked to Nick since he interviewed him. But evidently, he did well.

Bala was one of several comings and goings on Alabama’s staff this week, as the Tide reportedly are bringing former veteran head coach Charlie Strong back on staff as an analyst. 

Strong served as Miami’s linebackers coach and co-DC in 2022, but he left Mario Cristobal’s program after he was passed over for the Hurricanes’ DC opening. He first joined Saban’s staff as an analyst in 2020 after he was fired as South Florida’s head coach, and now will reunite with Kevin Steele, who was Miami’s DC last season. 

The final addition to Nick Saban’s deep pool of assistants was the hiring of Houston’s Harding Harper to become an assistant director of player personnel. Harper was a captain for James Franklin at Vanderbilt and has quickly risen up the ranks as a recruiting staffer working at multiple Power 5 programs. 

Lastly, longtime Alabama assistant Sal Sunseri is expected to join Deion Sanders’ staff at Colorado as the Buffs’ defensive tackles coach. 

Sunseri is a well-traveled veteran assistant, spending the last four seasons at Alabama — his second stint working for Saban and the Tide. He served as UA’s outside linebackers coach from 2019-21 before moving to a special assistant off-the-field role last fall. 

He becomes the second Alabama coach Sanders has plucked away from Saban’s staff this cycle, as Charles Kelly was one of his first hires as the Buffs’ defensive coordinator. 

MORE COACHING CAROUSEL MOVEMENT 

Elsewhere, staff turnover continues at LSU, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Miami and Maryland. 

Brian Kelly promoted Jon Jancek to outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. Jancek spent last season as an analyst for the Tigers and is a former veteran SEC defensive coordinator, working Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. 

Jancek replaces Brian Polian, who Kelly moved to an off-field role focusing on recruiting and NIL. 

To fill Jancek’s analyst spot on LSU’s staff the Tigers are reportedly bringing in former Notre Dame DC and UConn head coach Bob Diaco. 

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown replaced tight ends coach John Lilly, now back in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, with former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens. The former Alabama quarterback has spent the majority of his coaching career in the NFL, but he worked at South Carolina as an offensive analyst in 2022. 

At Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman rounded out his second-year offensive staff with the hiring of Virginia Tech offensive line coach Joe Rudolph. 

Rudolph spent just one season on staff with the Hokies after coaching at Wisconsin for seven seasons. He replaces Harry Hiestand, who retired in February. Rudolph has crossed paths with Freeman before, starting his coaching career as a GA at Ohio State when Freeman was on the team. 

Mario Cristobal finalized his second-year staff with a pair of hires in recent days. First, Cristobal brought back Kevin Beard to Coral Gables to coach receivers. The former Miami wideout held the same position as a very young coach back in 2015. Beard has spent the last four seasons as Toledo’s wideouts coach. The South Florida native is expected to help Miami better recruit in its backyard. Meanwhile, Cristobal also promoted NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor as the Canes’ defensive ends coach, replacing Rodrique Wright who left for the same job with the Houston Texans. Taylor spent the 2022 season as a defensive analyst with Miami.

With Beard and Taylor in the fold, Cristobal has now hired new offensive and defensive coordinators, a receivers coach, a tailbacks coach, a linebackers coach and a new defensive ends coach. Talk about staff turnover. 

At Maryland, Mike Locksley turned to an old colleague in need of a job to fill the Terps’ offensive coordinator opening, reportedly hiring Josh Gattis. 

The two coaches worked together at Alabama in 2018, and Gattis was set to follow Locksley to Maryland the next season before making a hard left turn and taking the same job at Michigan. He won the Broyles Award in 2021, and was fired from Miami’s staff after one year in Coral Gables. 

Finally, some other interesting staff movement across the sport this week happened at Georgia and Rice. Two programs that couldn’t be more different. 

Kirby Smart had to replace a key support staffer after director of player personnel Matt Godwin stepped away from football to pursue other opportunities in the private business sector. Godwin was considered instrumental in helping UGA’s build the roster of the back-to-back champions. 

Smart quickly replaced Godwin with another young recruiting guru with SEC ties, reportedly hiring Louisiana’s Will Myers to the same position. 

Myers spent a season with the Ragin’ Cajuns but was a support staffer previously at Ole Miss and South Carolina. 

As for Rice, the Owls made an under-the-radar hire this week they hope will boost their program’s profile and recruiting relationships within the state. 

Sixth-year head coach Mike Bloomgren is bringing Galena Park North Shore High School head coach Jon Kay on staff. Kay has been in charge of the Houston powerhouse since 2014, losing just 18 times in nine seasons (117-18) in the highest-division bracket in Texas. 

He has five state title berths, winning four championships. 

According to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, Kay is expected to coach linebackers at Rice.