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Jeremy Pruitt Sues NCAA, Claiming $100 Million In Lost Wages, That Tennessee Conspired To Have Him Fired
The former Vols coach says in a complaint that the NCAA and Tennessee conspired against him during the investigation
www.outkick.com
Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the NCAA for $100 million in lost wages, claiming that the organization ‘conspired with Tennessee’ in an effort to make him a ‘sacrifical lamb’ after an investigation was launched into impermissible payments that led to his firing.
The lawsuit, filed in Dekalb County, Alabama, claims that Tennessee was already paying players before he was hired by the Vols, while also pointing out that the things he was fired for are now legal in the eyes of the NCAA.
In the suit, Pruitt claims that he told then athletic director, Phillip Fulmer that payments were already being made, and that he brought this up to Fulmer, who he claims said would handle the situation. According to the lawsuit obtained by OutKick, Pruitt says that when he was given his ‘show cause’ penalty, the NCAA had already decided that Tennessee could pay a fine that would've actually been the amount owed in severance to the former coach.
"Less than one week after being hired, Pruitt discovered that payments were being made to some players. At the time, NCAA rules precluded those payments, even though court cases had already called into serious question whether such payments could be prohibited," the complaint says.
Pruitt also states that during his time at Tennessee, people within the athletic department had solicited money from boosters to pay players, which the former coach says he was unaware that this was going on and that Tennessee intentionally hid this from Pruitt, knowing (Pruitt's) ‘willingness to report violations’ that were going on inside his program.
This is exactly why Tennesee should have done what all the other schools in the SEC have done and that is to fire the SOB and pay him something. Now all the dirty laundry is going to be aired out in discovery and if I'm Kirby Smart and Alabama I would be worried as well because the Tennessee attorneys are going to be asking about what he did at Alabama and who was involved.
Of course the NCAA doesn't have any teeth anymore so I doubt it matters but the shit talking is going to be huge and UT may have to pay at least some of the money out anyway. Interesting he filed this in Dekalb county, Alabama because those red necks aren't even going to care about the truth they are just going to want to stick it to UT.
