Tennessee Football has avoided the "one penalty it dreaded" which was the post-season ban. Essentially UT put the entire case together for the NCAA making Jeremy Pruitt the bad guy while getting rid of a losing coach.
The NCAA wrote:
...over the course of three seasons, the Tennessee football program committed 18 Level I violations — encompassing more than 200 individual infractions — most of which involved recruiting rules violations and direct payments to prospects, current student-athletes and their families, according to a decision released by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. An additional four Level I unethical conduct violations occurred involving former university employees. The violations resulted in impermissible inducements and benefits totaling approximately $60,000. As a result, Tennessee failed to monitor its football program. Additionally, due to his personal involvement in the violations, the former football head coach violated head coach responsibility rules.
Blake Toppmeyer from USA Today/Commercial Appeal expressed some sympathy for Pruitt since he's essentially "shadow banned" from coaching in the SEC, for now, as Jeffrey Wright points out in this full 20-minute interview on 92.9 FM ESPN:
You can read more here about the UT ruling from Blake Toppmeyer:
Here's some of the wild stuff from Adam Sparks documenting the UT text messages from the case:
Tennessee kicks off their season on Saturday, September 2nd live at noon on 92.9 FM ESPN, Memphis' SEC Station. You can also listen to Vols Calls on 92.9 FM ESPN beginning on August 23rd at 7:00 p.m.
