Jeremy Pruitt on Friday received a six-year show cause order from what the NCAA Committee on Infractions termed “aggravated” violations during his tenure as Tennessee head football coach.

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 that occurred from 2018-20. Among the charges were impermissible cash and benefits totaling more than $60,000, and recruiting during the NCAA-mandated COVID-19 dead period.

The show-cause penalty means that if an NCAA member school chooses to hire Pruitt during that six-year period, he would be suspended for the entirety of the first season. Pruitt, a former Alabama player and assistant coach, was fired by Tennessee in January 2021 and has not worked in football since a one-season stint that fall with the NFL’s New York Giants.

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 various penalties, was charged with “Failure to Monitor” its football program.

In addition to penalties imposed on Pruitt and Tennessee’s program, former Volunteers defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley — also a multi-time Alabama assistant — was hit with a two-year show cause order. Ansley, a Tallassee native who played college football at Troy, was not retained by newly hired Tennessee coach Josh Heupel in January 2021 and is now defensive coordinator with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

Bethany Gunn, Tennessee’s former director of recruiting, received a five-year show cause order, while former assistant director of recruiting Chantryce Boone got a 10-year show cause. Gunn and Boone were fired along with Pruitt in January 2021, and must appear before the Committee on Infractions if they seek employment at an NCAA member school during the terms of their show-cause.

Four other former Tennessee staffers — all of whom were fired along with Pruitt or left the school under an NCAA cloud — had their NCAA cases settled in February, but Pruitt, Ansley and the school itself disputed the charges. Former Volunteers inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer, outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton, director of player personnel Drew Hughes and student assistant Michael Magness — received show-cause penalties ranging from 3-5 years for their roles in the violations.

Niedermeyer is now an assistant coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., while Felton succeeded Rush Propst as head coach at Valdosta (Ga.) High School in 2021. Hughes now works as player personnel coordinator for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, while Magness is out of football. (Niedermeyer and Hughes both also once worked at Alabama.)

Pruitt, a Rainsville native who played defensive back at Alabama in the mid-1990s, was on Nick Saban’s staff in various on- and off-field roles from 2007-12 and was defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach from 2016-17, after which he left to become the Volunteers’ head coach. He was fired for cause by Tennessee, negating his $12.6 million buyout.

It was widely reported that Saban considered re-hiring Pruitt for Alabama’s vacant defensive coordinator position after the 2022 season before settling on Kevin Steele. The Crimson Tide also had an opening for inside linebackers coach, but Saban first hired Southern Miss’ Austin Armstrong and then Liberty’s Robert Bala when Armstrong left to become defensive coordinator at Florida.

You can read the full Committee on Infractions report HERE.

This post will be updated.