Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has reportedly been hired as a PE teacher at Plainview High School in Rainsville, Alabama.
Just three years ago, Pruitt was the Volunteers head coach. He was fired after allegedly committing more than 200 NCAA violations between 2018-2021.
According to an investigative piece by Adam Sparks:
At least 105 people were involved in more than 200 violations committed under Pruitt from 2018 to early 2021, which led the NCAA earlier this month to impose five years of probation on the UT football program and show-cause penalties for eight former coaches and staff members.
The total includes 29 recruits, 39 family members or friends of recruits, 10 UT players, three players’ family members, nine high school and non-scholastic coaches, three boosters and at least a dozen members of Pruitt’s staff who had “hundreds of opportunities to report actual violations,” the NCAA decision said.
But more than 2,500 pages of documents, including approximately 6,000 text messages, obtained by Knox News via open records requests show the circle was much larger than 105 people – including a “reservation checklist” Pruitt’s staff created of friendly Knoxville business managers who willingly took cash payments in unorthodox fashion.
By late 2020, the scheme had passed the point that Pruitt could rein it in.
Additional UT coaches were accused of committing violations out in the open, but they weren’t included in the NCAA decision. Recruits and players said Pruitt’s staff doled out cash in school cafeterias, airports, front yards and a Dollar General parking lot.
BREAKING: Former #vols HC Jeremy Pruitt has been hired as a PE teacher at Plainview HS in Alabama. pic.twitter.com/pi9pdVh1Z8
— Paige Dauer (@PaigeWVLT8) July 27, 2023
Tennessee is officially credited with a 5-19 record during Pruitt’s three seasons at the helm. The NCAA vacated all the team’s wins from 2019 and 2020.
