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 encompassed 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 arrived. He also claims to have reported multiple 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 said the NCAA applied rules against him in 2023 that “had been essentially abolished in 2021 by the United States Supreme Court ruling.”

Tennessee as an institution was placed on five years probation, fined $8 million, saw its scholarships reduced by 28 over a five-year period, must vacate all victories in which ineligible student-athletes participated and was hit with various recruiting restrictions, but did not receive a postseason ban. The school, which had already self-imposed numerous penalties, was charged with “Failure to Monitor” its football program.

According to the Committee on Infractions, Pruitt and his Tennessee staff engaged in “paid unofficial visit scheme” that was against NCAA rules and involved 12 members of the football staff, 29 recruits, 39 members of their families, 10 active players, three family members of players, nine of those recruits’ coaches and three boosters. Included in the scheme were “110 impermissible hotel room nights, 180 impermissible meals, 72 instances of providing impermissible entertainment or other benefits, 41 impermissible recruiting contacts, 37 instances of providing impermissible game day parking, and 14 times in which gear was impermissibly provided to prospects.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.