Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has sued the NCAA, claiming $100 million in lost wages due to his 2021 firing and six-year show-cause penalty.
In the lawsuit, Pruitt alleges that UT and the NCAA conspired make him the “sacrificial lamb” for rules violations that preceded his tenure as Vols coach.
He also believes that he shouldn’t be punished for allegedly paying players because the NCAA now allows athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness.
“The NCAA punished Pruitt for something that is no longer illegal,” Pruitt’s complaint said. “Jeremy Pruitt may be the last coach in America to be punished for impressible player benefits.”
Pruitt also claims that UT was already paying football players against NCAA rules when he was hired in December 2017, but that athletics director Phillip Fulmer swept it under the rug and the investigation intentionally ignored that information.
“The investigation was intentionally limited to avoid examining historical misconduct at UT, which long preceded Jeremy and was hidden from him,” said Pruitt’s complaint, which was filed in DeKalb County, Alabama.
On Thursday, Pruitt did not immediately respond to a Knox News request for comment on Thursday. Luke Pruitt, Jeremy’s brother, told the Gadsden Times that Jeremy Pruitt has no comment on the lawsuit. Jeremy Pruitt’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
UT fired Pruitt for cause in January 2021 in the early stages of a yearslong recruiting scandal. It began with an internal investigation in November 2020 and ended with an NCAA verdict in July 2023.
The NCAA put UT football on probation for five years as punishment for more than 200 violations committed under Pruitt, and it gave Pruitt a six-year show-cause. That meant a university could not hire Pruitt without NCAA approval during the length of his ban.
In July 2023, Pruitt was hired as a physical education teacher at his alma mater, Plainview High School in Rainsville, Alabama, where his lawsuit against the NCAA was filed on Wednesday. He is currently helping coach Plainview High football alongside his father Dale Pruitt.
This is Pruitt’s latest attempt to recoup the $12.6 million buyout that he never received from UT because he was fired for cause and potentially millions of dollars he could’ve earned as a college football coach.
Pruitt had a 16-19 record in three seasons as UT head coach, but 11 victories were later vacated by the NCAA because those games included ineligible players. Before being hired at UT, Pruitt was one of the most sought-after defensive coordinators in college football.
“The NCAA effectively established a tribunal designed to reach a predetermined conclusion: Jeremy would be blamed, the University of Tennessee would be commended, and UT would have cover for its decision to avoid paying Jeremy his just compensation,” Pruitt’s complaint said.
Jeremy Pruitt says Phillip Fulmer knew about cheating
Pruitt claims UT was cheating when he was hired in December 2017, and that he alerted Fulmer less than one week into his tenure.
“Pruitt discovered that payments were being made to some players,” his complaint said. “Pruitt immediately reported what he learned to the athletics director Phillip Fulmer. (Fulmer) told Pruitt that ‘he would handle it” and deal with the university’s compliance department.”
Fulmer, the former Vols football coach, served as athletics director during the entirety of the Pruitt recruiting scandal. The NCAA did not implicate Fulmer in wrongdoing. He retired on the day Pruitt was fired and received $450,000 a year – one-half of his annual compensation – through the end of 2023.
An internal university email, which Knox News obtained, revealed Fulmer’s state of mind as violations came to light in late 2020 and early 2021, during the early stages of UT’s investigation.
In that email, Fulmer appeared oblivious but not culpable in Pruitt’s rule-breaking.
Fulmer was either unaware of the gravity of the situation or went to great lengths to feign ignorance. He was not implicated in any violations, but it appears he was in the dark more than an athletics director typically would be.
During the NCAA hearing in April 2023, Fulmer played a part in defending UT against a failure to monitor charge from the NCAA and any potential accusation from Pruitt.
Pruitt claims ‘no reasonable person could find him guilty’
In the complaint, Pruitt mostly argues procedural misconduct by the NCAA in cahoots with UT. But he also pleads his innocence.
He accused the NCAA with negligently punishing him for “allegations for which no reasonable person could find him guilty.”
In that charge, Pruitt faces an uphill climb. The NCAA reported that at least 105 people were involved in more than 200 violations committed under Pruitt from 2018 to early 2021.
But Knox News uncovered documents that showed the circle was much larger – including recruits, family members or friends of recruits, UT players, high school coaches, boosters and even a “reservation checklist” Pruitt’s staff used to rope in Knoxville business managers complicit in violations.
Plus, Pruitt’s defensive coordinator, Derrick Ansley, said Pruitt initiated and oversaw the cheating. He was among seven former Pruitt assistant coaches and staffers who received show-cause penalties.
Pruitt says UT, NCAA rigged the case against him
Pruitt claims that the NCAA allowed UT to direct the investigation where it wanted – at him – by paying private lawyers to do the NCAA’s work.
“The NCAA empowered the University of Tennessee to use its own attorneys to investigate the university,” the complaint said. “… (The NCAA was) acting in bad faith in concert with UT to promote the university’s self-preservation interest at the expense of Jeremy’s career.”
In November 2022, Pruitt made the same argument during his initial response to NCAA allegations. At that time, his lawyer called it a “one-sided” probe run by investigators paid by UT to ignore evidence that would’ve supported Pruitt’s claims.
It’s true that the NCAA lacks the manpower and resources to pull off such a widespread investigation. So UT funded much of it by paying almost $2 million in legal fees to Bond, Schoeneck & King, a law firm specializing in high-profile NCAA cases.
UT staffers facilitated interviews and arranged for electronic evidence to be collected. BSK lawyers conducted the interviews and organized the evidence. NCAA enforcement staff were present for some of the interviews and had access to the transcripts.
But Pruitt would have to prove that UT and BSK lawyers withheld crucial evidence or testimony that would’ve exonerated him.
This story will updated.
Exclusive coverage: Reliving Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal at Tennessee
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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