More reported details have emerged from Tennessee’s 200-plus infractions committed by the football team from 2018-2020.
The school avoided a bowl ban, but they reportedly must vacate all of their wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
They won 11 games in that span, going 8-5 in 2019 and then disappointing the following year with a 3-7 record. Their eighth win of the 2019 season was their Gator Bowl victory over Indiana.
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ESPN reports that their final record in those two seasons will read as 0-5 and 0-7, respectively, making Pruitt’s record with the Vols now a measly 5-19. Tennessee went 5-8 in his first season there.
The Vols were fined $8 million and will have their football scholarships reduced by 28 during their five-year probation.
The panel stated the violations “resulted in impermissible inducements and benefits totaling approximately $60,000.”
“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 Tennessee athletics department said in a statement. “The NCAA membership agreed with us, as reflected in the new constitution and bylaws.”
Most of the violations came from a “paid unofficial visit scheme” that was used by the football program over a two-year period.
It involved at least a dozen members of the football staff and included at least “110 impermissible hotel room nights, 180 impermissible meals, 72 instances of providing impermissible entertainment or other benefits, 41 impermissible recruiting contacts, 37 instances of providing impermissible game day parking, and 14 times in which gear was impermissibly provided to prospects.”
Two prospects also received cash payments from the former head coach and/or his wife, according to the report.
Pruitt joined the New York Giants as a senior defensive assistant for the 2021 season but was not retained.
Fox News’ Joe Morgan contributed to this report.
