What Tennessee football and former coach Jeremy Pruitt could get in NCAA penalties

Jeremy Pruitt’s college coaching career may be over, and Tennessee football could face scholarship cuts and vacated wins for its 18 Level I NCAA violations.

Those are some of the major penalties that could be considered in the Vols’ case, which turns to the penalty phase after a notice of allegations was sent to the university Friday.

UT and the people named in the NCAA report have 90 days to respond to the allegations. Then the NCAA enforcement staff has 60 days to reply to those responses.

A negotiated resolution could settle the case before a hearing. But that may require UT, Pruitt and others implicated in the report to agree on the findings. Either way, the process likely will take months to resolve.

TENNESSEE'S CASE FOR LENIENCY:Why Vols could avoid NCAA hammer in Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal

TENNESSEE NCAA VIOLATIONS:Here are the details of UT's 18 Level I infractions

Here's a breakdown of potential penalties that could be under discussion for UT, Pruitt and his former coaches.

Pruitt’s 16 wins could be erased

The NCAA could vacate wins during Pruitt’s tenure because ineligible players competed in most, if not all, of those games.

The report lists 13 players whose names have been redacted, accounting for 124 combined games played (9.5 games per player) during Pruitt’s tenure.

It does not list the specific games or how many overlapped between players. But the high number suggests at least one player competed in most of Pruitt’s 35 games coached from 2018-20.

Vacating wins is common in serious NCAA cases involving ineligible players. Ole Miss had 33 wins vacated over six seasons (2010-16) for committing 15 Level I violations under coach Hugh Freeze.

Such a penalty would leave a stain on UT’s record book. But it wouldn’t take away many notable feats from the Vols because they didn't win much under Pruitt.

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Pruitt had a 16-19 record — 5-7 in 2018, 8-5 in 2019 and 3-7 in a COVID-shortened 2020 season. His best wins came against No. 21 Auburn and No. 12 Kentucky in 2018, and the 2019 Vols beat Indiana in the Gator Bowl.

More scholarship cuts by Tennessee or NCAA

UT cut 12 scholarships in 2021 as a self-imposed penalty in coach Josh Heupel’s first season, Knox News has learned. And it plans to trim a few more scholarships this season to show further contrition to the NCAA.

A UT statement in November suggested the possibility of self-imposed penalties specific to the “nature of the violations,” which were in recruiting. It also self-imposed other recruiting restrictions in 2021 without making a public announcement.

UT players will report to preseason practice Sunday. It appears there are 79 scholarship players projected for the 2022 season, well under the maximum 85 allotted by the NCAA. That’s estimated by counting the scholarship players returning from last season and adding freshmen and transfers known to be on scholarship.

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The exact number is uncertain because UT has not released its updated scholarship count. Last week, Heupel said, “I don’t have a number for you right now, but we’re underneath (85).”

The NCAA case likely won’t be adjudicated until during or after this season. So any additional scholarship cuts by the NCAA would affect the team in future seasons. The Vols prefer to take their medicine sooner than later so Heupel can move the program forward and capitalize on recent momentum in recruiting.

UT’s 2023 class, set to sign in December, is ranked No. 7 by 247Sports Composite. None of Pruitt’s four classes ranked in the top 10.

Show-cause for Pruitt and coaches

A show-cause order appears likely for Pruitt and members of his staff implicated, judging from the frequency of that suggested penalty in the report. The NCAA enforcement staff “believes a hearing panel could enter a show-cause order,” the report says 29 times about eight individuals.

Bethany Gunn, former director of recruiting, received the harshest judgment with recommendations of a show-cause order on eight separate violations. Pruitt had the second-most with five. The rest included assistant coaches Brian Niedermeyer (4), Shelton Felton (3) and Derrick Ansley (1); recruiting staff members Drew Hughes (3) and Chantryce Boone (3); and an unnamed student recruiting assistant (2).

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A show-cause order means they wouldn’t be allowed to coach or recruit in college for a period of time unless their future employer could successfully argue otherwise to the NCAA. Coaches can receive a lifetime show-cause, but the standard penalty is two to five years.

Pruitt would be the most affected by a show-cause since he was a sought-after assistant coach before his head coaching debut at UT. He served as defensive coordinator at Florida State, Georgia and Alabama, winning five national titles with the Crimson Tide.

Pruitt spent last season as a senior defensive analyst with the New York Giants but was not retained after coach Joe Judge was fired. If issued a show-cause, he could still coach in the NFL or high school, where he first earned acclaim.

Felton (Valdosta High in Georgia) and Niedermeyer (IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida) are now high school coaches. Ansley (Chargers) and Hughes (Jaguars) have NFL jobs.

Bowl ban under Heupel depends on NCAA perspective

Heupel guided the Vols to the Music City Bowl in his first season, and they’re projected for bowl contention again this season. It’s unlikely UT would face a bowl ban this season. Even if the NCAA ruled that way, UT would appeal in a process that should extend into 2023.

UT hopes to avoid a bowl ban completely, and it’s leaning on new NCAA legislation to make its case.

The new NCAA constitution, which goes into effect Monday, changes the enforcement approach by de-emphasizing the use of postseason bans to punish “programs or student-athletes innocent of the infraction(s).”

UT Chancellor Donde Plowman echoed that language in her response to the notice of allegations.

“We will not self-impose penalties that harm innocent student-athletes like postseason bans based upon the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer part of the institution,” Plowman said in a statement.

UT’s violations occurred before this new enforcement approach had been adopted. But if the Vols are given a bowl ban, the NCAA would be punishing a football program in a way its own reforms committee sees as unfair.

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.