Tennessee, Donde Plowman respond to punishment from NCAA

The NCAA on Friday released its punishment for Tennessee football from the Committee on Infractions investigation into the program under former head coach Jeremy Pruitt who, along with his staff, was found to have committed 18 Level I infractions and over 200 individual infractions.

On Friday afternoon, the Tennessee athletic department and University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman released statement’s in response to the punishment, which included an $8 million fine, five years of probation, the loss of 28 scholarships and other recruiting limitations.

Pruitt himself was given a six-year show-cause by the NCAA. There was also is a five-year show-cause order for former director of recruiting Bethany Gunn, a 10-year show-cause for former assistant director of recruiting Chantryce Boone and a two-year show-cause for former defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley.

Plowman initiated an internal investigation after receiving a tip about the recruiting violations taking place during the Pruitt era in Knoxville. The NCAA commended Tennessee’s “exemplary cooperation” in the investigation, describing UT as “the model all institutions should strive to follow.”

Here is what Plowman and Tennessee said in statements released Friday afternoon:

Chancellor Donde Plowman

Today, the NCAA Committee on Infractions announced the results of our football investigation, with no post-season ban.

I have said from the beginning that we are committed to winning with integrity. I believe we also resolved this case with integrity, always committed to holding ourselves accountable and wrong-doers responsible, while protecting the rights of student-athletes who had nothing to do with the infractions.

We recognize this was a serious case, and the penalties we received from the Committee on Infractions are consistent with what we expected and negotiated with the NCAA enforcement staff last year. Most critically, the Committee did not impose a post-season ban, which has been a central principle that we advocated for through this entire process. The Committee and the NCAA enforcement staff showed leadership in resolving this case in a way that adapted to meet the new NCAA Constitution and Bylaws and recognized our institution’s exemplary cooperation.

I appreciate the exceptional leadership of Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Danny White, who inherited this case and has worked since his first day to resolve it in the best interest of our innocent student-athletes and the university. He and Coach Josh Heupel have transformed the culture of our athletics department, and our football program, in a very short time.

We are pleased to have this case closed. I could not be more excited about the future of Tennessee Athletics.

Statement from Tennessee Athletics

Our athletics department, including our football program, is fiercely competitive and committed to winning the right way. We have navigated this case during a significant change at the NCAA, and we are pleased with how it was ultimately resolved. We always wanted to be accountable but were unwilling to sacrifice our innocent student-athletes’ ability to play in the postseason.

The NCAA membership agreed with us, as reflected in the new constitution and bylaws.

From the outset, our top priority was protecting our student-athletes in this process and not taking away their opportunities for postseason play.

We are excited to have this case behind us and can’t wait to start the season in Nashville on September 2 against Virginia.

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