The Tennessee Volunteers football program got hammered by the NCAA today with a Notice of Allegations.
Tennessee are faces over a dozen violations for a wide variety of alleged rule breaks that took place under former head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Nearly all of them center around illegal payments made by Pruitt to potential recruits.
On Friday, Tennessee athletic director Danny White issued a statement on the Notice. The statement was merely an acknowledgement that they received the Notice and are preparing for what is to come:
“Receipt of our Notice of Allegations was an expected, requisite step in this process – a process our university initiated proactively through decisive and transparent actions. This moves us one step closer to a final resolution. Until we get to that point, I am unable to discuss the case in any detail. As a university, we understand the need to take responsibility for what occurred, but we remain committed to protecting our current and future student-athletes,” White said.
The exact details of all of the allegations are available online. It’s hard to say right now just how hard the NCAA is going to come down on Tennessee.
Per Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, Tennessee has several aggravating factors that might encourage the NCAA to treat them harsher than most programs. But there are some mitigating factors as well, such as the speed with which Tennessee informed the NCAA of the issues.
As Danny White said, there isn’t much else that can be said or done as the investigation is ongoing.
What will the final fate of Tennessee be?