The NCAA informed Jacksonville State it could hire former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt as an analyst, the school announced on Friday.
Pruitt, who was sentenced to a six-year “show cause” order after an NCAA infractions ruling in 2023, will coach for the first time since he was fired at Tennessee in January, 2021.
Following a formal show-cause hearing held on Oct. 23, the NCAA Committee on Infractions determined that Jacksonville State demonstrated “sufficient cause” to modify the remaining terms of Pruitt’s show-cause order, allowing his employment in the restricted analyst position.
Pruitt will work in a role that doesn’t include interacting with recruits and will have limited interaction with the players. He has already served a year-long suspension from coaching in games, and part of the original penalty included preventing him from recruiting off campus in his first year back if he returned to college coaching.
In 2022, the NCAA charged Tennessee’s football program with 18 Level I alleged rules violations, the most severe under its rules, for impermissible recruiting benefits totaling about $60,000 that were paid to prospects, players and their families under Pruitt. He was fired for cause by Tennessee in January 2021 and didn’t receive any of his $12.6 million buyout after an internal investigation revealed what chancellor Donde Plowman said were serious violations of NCAA rules.
This past March, Pruitt filed a lawsuit against the NCAA seeking $100 million and claiming it conspired with the university to make him a “sacrificial lamb.”
If Pruitt were to leave Jacksonville State and try to get hired at another school, he would have to go through the same “show cause” process with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions. The show-cause order expires in July, 2029.
