Tennessee officials have not extended the contracts for assistant football coaches and have stopped hiring coaches for the vacancies, while volunteers continue to investigate whether recruitment violations have occurred within the program, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the university announced that it had hired lawyers Mike Glazier and Kyle Skillman to assist its in-house lawyer and compliance officers with the internal investigation. Lawyers interviewed current players this week about alleged undue benefits and other rule violations, sources told ESPN.
“We take our institutional commitment to NCAA compliance seriously and are reviewing the regulatory issues that have been brought to our attention,” University spokeswoman Tyra Haag said in a statement this week. “As part of this process, we are currently working with lawyers Kyle Skillman and Michael Glazier with Bond, Schoeneck & King. We will provide additional information when appropriate.”
Last month, ESPN reported that compliance officials interviewed current players, recruits, assistant coaches, student volunteers and other athletic department employees involved in recruiting football. The sources said the interviews began in November.
The sources told ESPN that the recruitment of Amarius Mims by Tennessee, the No. 3 offensive and player No. 19 overall on the 2021 ESPN 300, is part of the compliance department’s investigation. Mims signed with Georgia.
Second-year retailer Eric Gray, the team’s leader with 772 yards and four touchdowns, was also barred from playing the regular season finale against Texas A&M for undisclosed reasons. Sources told ESPN that Gray’s absence was related to the compliance investigation.
While Tennessee officials await the completion of the investigation, the athletics department has not renewed or extended the contracts for assistant coaches, some of whom have deals that expire later this month, including running back coach Tee Martin and lineback coach. Brian Niedermeyer.
Volunteers also have at least two vacancies after coach Jeremy Pruitt fired defensive coach Jimmy Brumbaugh after four games and offensive coach Will Friend went to South Carolina last month.
Pruitt, 46, has a 16-19 record with Volunteers over three seasons. Volunteers have gone 3-7 this season, losing seven of the last eight games.
After driving volunteers to an 8-5 record in 2019, Pruitt was rewarded with a two-year contract extension that increased his annual salary to $ 4.2 million. The contract runs until the 2025 season. If Tennessee fired Pruitt without cause, he owed him a purchase of about $ 12.8 million, or 60% of the remaining money owed in the deal.
Pruitt is scheduled to receive a $ 200,000 retention bonus on February 15th.
According to the terms of Pruitt’s contract, if the university dismisses him for cause, he “will not be entitled to further salary, compensation, benefits, gratuities or any other sport-related income or benefits derived by virtue of the coach’s position as principal football coach at the University. “
Some of Tennessee’s best players have left the program or announced plans to leave in recent weeks, including junior cornerback Bryce Thompson (eight career interceptions), who entered the NFL draft earlier this week. Running back Ty Chandler and tight end Austin Pope are among the eight players who have joined the transfer portal since December. Quarterback JT Shrout was transferred to Colorado, and defense star Deandre Johnson was transferred to Miami.