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Tennessee’s response to NCAA notice of allegations detailed in report
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Portions of Tennessee’s formal response to its NCAA notice of allegations have been revealed. The Knoxville News Sentinel received documents Thursday through a record request.
Per Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel, Tennessee only had minor disputes with 5 of 18 Level I violations for roughly $60,000 in impermissible benefits. The NCAA found that The program’s main argument about the case was that it did not fail to monitor the football program, but that those who violated the rules deceived compliance officials in the athletic department.
“Despite the University’s monitoring efforts, athletics administrators and athletics compliance staffmembers were repeatedly deceived by the football program,” UT said in the response to the NCAA. “The University respectfully submits that it is unrealistic to expect an institution to prevent, or immediately detect, the intentional and concealed misconduct that occurred in this case.”
The Level I violations were committed by former head coach Jeremy Pruitt and wife Casey and multiple UT football assistants, including former coaches Derrick Ansley, Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermeyer and recruiting staffers Drew Hughes, Bethany Gunn and Chantryce Boone. An unnamed booster also committed violations during the 2018-to-2021 timeframe, per Sparks.
“The factual information in this case demonstrates that experienced football coaches and non-coaching staff members knowingly violated longstanding and universally understood NCAA rules and went to considerable lengths to conceal their misconduct,” UT said in its response. “The record also supports that the University monitored football recruiting visits in accordance with industry standards.
“As part of the University’s monitoring efforts, athletics administration and athletics compliance staff maintained a physical presence in and around the football program (including embedding an experienced compliance staff member in the program).”
Pruitt and 9 football staff members were in January 2021. Josh Heupel was hired later that month.
Per Knox News, NCAA now has 60 days to respond to Tennessee’s responses.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
