Fired Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt can be a college football coach again, judge rules
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Former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt won a preliminary injunction in an Alabama court that halts the NCAA show-cause order and allows him to coach in college football again.
On Dec. 15, Judge Andrew Hairston in DeKalb County, Alabama, gave the order as part of Pruitt’s $100 million lawsuit against the NCAA. The injunction prevents the NCAA from enforcing its six-year show-cause order, which was levied against Pruitt in 2023 as part of the yearslong recruiting scandal under his watch at Tennessee.
Pruitt’s attorneys argued that the NCAA penalties were preventing premier college football programs from hiring him. In his injunction decision, Hairston ruled that halting the show-cause order would grant more benefits to Pruitt than harm to the NCAA.
In October, the NCAA modified its show-cause order, allowing Jacksonville State to hire Pruitt in a “limited, non-coaching analyst role within the football program.” Before that, Pruitt had spent part of the 2025 season as an assistant coach at his alma mater Plainview High School in Rainsville, Alabama, under his father Dale. He had been an assistant there since 2023.
The injunction allows Pruitt to be hired as a full-time coach. Before his UT head coaching tenure, Pruitt was regarded as one of college football’s top defensive coordinators. He held that position at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State.
Pruitt’s availability comes just in time for the coaching carousel, as staffs are retooled for the 2026 season.
Why fired Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt sued NCAA for $100 million
On March 26, Pruitt filed the suit in DeKalb County, Alabama, which contains his hometown of Rainsville. The suit claimed $100 million in lost wages due to his 2021 firing and six-year show-cause penalty.
Pruitt alleged that UT and the NCAA conspired to make him the “sacrificial lamb” for rules violations that preceded his tenure as Vols coach. He claims that UT was already paying football players against NCAA rules when he was hired in December 2017, but that former athletics director Phillip Fulmer swept it under the rug and the investigation intentionally ignored that information.
Pruitt also believed that he shouldn’t be punished for allegedly paying players because the NCAA now allows athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness.
UT fired Pruitt for cause in January 2021 in the early stages of a yearslong recruiting scandal. It began with an internal investigation in November 2020 and ended with an NCAA verdict in July 2023.
The NCAA put UT football on probation for five years as punishment for more than 200 violations committed under Pruitt, and it gave Pruitt a six-year show-cause. That meant a university could not hire Pruitt without NCAA approval during the length of his ban.
In July 2023, Pruitt was hired as a physical education teacher at his alma mater, Plainview High School, where his lawsuit against the NCAA was filed. It was Pruitt’s latest attempt to recoup the $12.6 million buyout that he never received from UT because he was fired for cause and potentially millions of dollars he could’ve earned as a college football coach.
Pruitt had a 16-19 record in three seasons at UT, but 11 victories were later vacated by the NCAA because those games included ineligible players.
“The NCAA effectively established a tribunal designed to reach a predetermined conclusion: Jeremy would be blamed, the University of Tennessee would be commended, and UT would have cover for its decision to avoid paying Jeremy his just compensation,” Pruitt’s complaint said.
Exclusive coverage: Recapping Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal at Tennessee
- 12 text messages that buried Jeremy Pruitt: ‘We trying to do some epic (expletive)’
- 15 more text messages: Jeremy Pruitt ‘doesn’t want (crappy) players’
- How Jeremy Pruitt’s recruiting scheme unraveled with fake names and loose ends
- How Pruitt, staff members broke NCAA rules and penalty each received
- Walter Nolen’s impermissible visit to Tennessee cost nearly $3,000
- Tennessee paid Darnell Washington cash. He still went to Georgia
- Auburn signee was poster child of Pruitt’s illicit recruiting operation
- How nail salon joke blew lid off Jeremy Pruitt case
- Passwords for free parking at Tennessee games? Recruits said these magic words
- Vols assistant paid recruits from bank account shared with parents
- Defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley pointed finger at Pruitt
- Fulmer was either fooled by Pruitt or feigned ignorance, records show
- Fulmer’s list of candidates to replace Pruitt included some wild names
- Tennessee attorney general threatened NCAA with state law before Pruitt verdict
- Inside every step Tennessee took to avoid a bowl ban
- Even Jeremy Pruitt told NCAA that Tennessee shouldn’t get a bowl ban
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football: Jeremy Pruitt can coach in college, judge rules
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