Tennessee Football Must Vacate All Wins from 2019, 2020 Seasons Due to NCAA Sanctions

The Tennessee Volunteers football program is being forced to vacate all 11 wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons stemming from recruiting violations under former head coach Jeremy Pruitt, according to ESPN's Chris Low.

The Volunteers were also hit with an $8 million fine and placed on five years probation, including the reduction of 28 scholarships, according to Low.

The NCAA said in a statement:

"Over the course of three seasons, the Tennessee football program committed 18 Level I violations — encompassing more than 200 individual infractions — most of which involved recruiting rules violations and direct payments to prospects, current student-athletes and their families, according to a decision released by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. "

"An additional four Level I unethical conduct violations occurred involving former university employees. The violations resulted in impermissible inducements and benefits totaling approximately $60,000. As a result, Tennessee failed to monitor its football program. Additionally, due to his personal involvement in the violations, the former football head coach violated head coach responsibility rules."

During his tenure from 2018-2020 Pruitt allegedly brought recruits to campus on impermissible paid visits that were not considered official. The NCAA referred to this as "a paid unofficial visit scheme" that involved 29 prospects, their family members, 10 then-enrolled student athletes and three boosters, among others.

During these visits, many of which occurred during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, members of Tennessee's coaching and recruiting staffs allegedly paid for hotels, meals, entertainment and other benefits for prospects.

Additionally, Pruitt and his wife Casey allegedly made direct payments to recruits, one of which the NCAA said in its statement was $6,000 "intended to be a down payment on a new car" for a prospect's mother, "which is also a violation of NCAA rules and a recruiting inducement."

The player appeared in 23 games, including a bowl game for Tennessee, and Pruitt continued to provide the player's mother with cash and financial assistance.

Tennessee's official record book is being updated to reflect an 0-5 record in 2019 and an 0-7 record in 2020. Pruitt's record is being updated to 5-19 in his three seasons as head coach of the Vols.

Tennessee fired Pruitt after the 2020 campaign following its own investigation into the violations and alerted the NCAA. The program avoided a bowl ban and harsher penalties because it cooperated with the NCAA and its investigation in "exemplary" fashion.

The program replaced Pruitt with Josh Heupel, who led the Vols to a 7-6 finish in 2021 and 11-2 record in 2022.