RAINSVILLE, Ala. — Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt is returning to his high school alma mater to teach physical education and coach junior high basketball after the NCAA imposed a six-year show cause against him for rules violations.
Plain View High School principal Chris Clark said the DeKalb County Board of Education unanimously approved Pruitt’s hiring on Thursday with “no issues” in the northeast Alabama town of about 5,500. That’s less than two weeks after Tennessee was fined more than $8 million, and the NCAA issued a scathing report outlined more than 200 infractions during Pruitt’s three-year tenure before his firing in early 2021.
“He’s a hometown hero,” said Clark, who was one of Pruitt’s assistant coaches at the school. “He’s made a name for himself. Even before Tennessee, he was a well-known defensive coordinator at Alabama. He’s always kept close ties to the community.
“He was a great fit for what we needed and our basketball coach was thrilled to death to hire him.”
The NCAA’s ruling made it unlikely for Pruitt to land another college job in the near future. His show-cause mandates a suspension for his first year if he’s hired in athletics at an NCAA school.
The NCAA found that Pruitt or his wife, Casey, were involved in impermissible payments to two prospects who later signed with Tennessee. The mother of one player received $6,000 from Pruitt’s wife as a down payment on a car.
After the mother’s son signed with the Vols, Pruitt’s wife paid the woman $500 each month for car payments at least 25 times. The mother also received $1,600 from Pruitt’s wife for a deposit on a rental home in the Knoxville area.
The mother of a second prospect told Pruitt she needed a medical procedure she could not pay for. The NCAA found Pruitt gave her an envelope with $3,000 for medical bills. Records obtained by Tennessee show the prospect’s mother deposited $5,100 in her bank account two days after a similar amount ($5,000) was withdrawn from the head coach’s bank account.
Also, Pruitt gave the woman $300 to pay for gas.
Kay Norton, head of the panel that ruled on Tennessee, called it “one of the largest cases this committee has ever adjudicated.”