Volunteers avoid bowl ban as NCAA finds over 200 violations - ESPN

The Tennessee football program avoided a bowl ban but was fined more than $8 million by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, which announced its punishment for the Volunteers on Friday after finding more than 200 individual infractions committed by the school during former coach Jeremy Pruitt's tenure.

Among the penalties handed down, Tennessee has been placed on five years' probation, was given an $8 million fine among other financial penalties that will push the total closer to $9 million and will see a total reduction of 28 scholarships.

The $8 million fine, which the NCAA said was "equivalent to the financial impact the school would have faced if it missed the postseason during the 2023 and 2024 seasons," is believed to be the largest ever levied in an infractions case.

"The panel encountered a challenging set of circumstances related to prescribing penalties in this case," the infractions committee said in its decision. "The panel urges the Infractions Process Committee and the membership to clearly define its philosophy regarding penalties -- which extends beyond postseason bans -- and memorialize that philosophy in an updated set of penalty guidelines."

The NCAA will require Tennessee to vacate all wins and individual record in any game in which 16 individual sanctioned players participated. The specific games will be announced later.

The Volunteers were credited for their self-imposed 16-scholarship reduction over the past two years and will cut two more scholarships this year, meaning 10 additional scholarships will be taken away over the five-year probation period.

Tennessee had been charged with 18 Level 1 violations -- the most severe in the NCAA rules structure -- in July 2022. Included among the more than 200 infractions were charges of $60,000 in impermissible benefits and both Pruitt and his wife, Casey, making cash payments to players' families.

Pruitt received a six-year show-cause order and would be suspended for the first full season if he was hired by an NCAA school. Pruitt, who was 16-19 in three seasons for the Volunteers, was fired for cause by Tennessee after the 2020 season and didn't receive any of his $12.6 million buyout. He has been out of college or professional coaching since serving as a New York Giants senior defensive assistant in 2021.

Three other former staff members were also given show-cause orders.

Tennessee officials and others, including SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Pruitt, were in Cincinnati for two days in April as the Committee on Infractions heard Tennessee's case, which was ignited when university chancellor Donde Plowman said in November 2020 that her office received a credible tip on a potential recruiting violation within the football program. A week later, Tennessee hired the legal firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King to investigate any wrongdoing. That investigation lasted nearly a year and cost the university more than $1.5 million in legal fees.

When Pruitt was fired in January 2021, Plowman said in a news conference that she was shocked at the "number of violations and the number of people involved and their efforts to conceal their activities from our compliance staff and leadership within the athletic department."

The NCAA found that Tennessee failed to monitor its football program, which was the lone charge that targeted the university and not football coaches and staff members. Tennessee disputed that charge, and given the university's swift action in firing coaches and staff members and launching its own investigation, it was able to steer clear of a postseason ban.

That was a priority of Tennessee officials all along -- to not punish players and coaches who weren't a part of the program when the violations occurred. The lack of a bowl ban also continues a recent trend in NCAA cases.

Tennessee was not charged with a lack of institutional control a year ago when the charges were announced, which lessened the potential scope of the penalties, as did the school's series of self-imposed sanctions in anticipation of the NCAA ruling.

Other penalties handed down against Tennessee include the loss of 36 official visits, at least four per year, during the probation period and a limit on official visits at 10 regular-season games, four of those coming against SEC opponents. The program will be required to end 40 unofficial visits by recruits for 40 weeks over the next five years and cease communication with recruits for 28 weeks spread over five years.

When Tennessee announced that it was firing Pruitt, athletic director and former Hall of Fame coach Phillip Fulmer also announced his retirement. Danny White was hired soon afterward as athletic director and has since revamped just about all of Tennessee's athletic department.

Tennessee is coming off an 11-2 season in 2022 under coach Josh Heupel, the program's first season since 2007 with double-digit wins. The Volunteers won the Orange Bowl and have significant momentum heading into 2023.