Jeremy Pruitt has filed a $100 million lawsuit in DeKalb County against the NCAA.
The former Tennessee head football coach and former Alabama assistant is suing for lost wages, according to documents obtained Yahoo Sports.
In the complaint, Pruitt, per reporter Ross Dellenger, claims that the NCAA “conspired with Tennessee” to make him a “sacrificial lamb” for rules violations.
Pruitt, who was fired from Tennessee in 2021, received a six-year, show-cause order for what the NCAA Committee on Infractions termed “aggravated” violations during his tenure as Tennessee coach.
As reported by AL.com, Pruitt and several members of his Volunteers staff were charged with 18 NCAA violations that included more than 200 individual infractions involving 29 recruits and their families and 10 active players that occurred from 2018-20.
Among the charges were impermissible cash and benefits totaling more than $60,000, as well as recruiting during the NCAA-mandated COVID-19 dead period.
Pruitt claims, however, Tennessee was illegally paying players before he got to Knoxville. He also claims to have reported violations in 2017 to then-Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer.
Per Yahoo, Fulmer told Pruitt that “he would handle it,” according to the complaint.
Pruitt argues the NCAA applied rules against him in 2023 that “had been essentially abolished in 2021 by the United States Supreme Court ruling.”
