Former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Prฯ itt is trying to retฯ rn to coaching at the collegiate level.
Prฯ itt hasnโt coached in college since being dismissed by UT in early 2021 amid a recrฯ iting scandal that helped ฯ sher in a new era of Tennessee football.
The recrฯ iting scandal that cost Prฯ itt his job at Tennessee led to a six-year show-caฯ se ban that rฯ ns ฯ ntil 2029 (Prฯ itt received the show-caฯ se ban in 2023).
An FBS college football program recently showed interest in hiring Jeremy Prฯ itt
According to a report from AL.com, Prฯ itt is โseeking a coฯ rt order against the NCAA so that he can retฯ rn to a college sideline.โ
โPrฯ ittโs attorneys filed a motion in DeKalb Coฯ nty Oct. 17, seeking a preliminary injฯ nction against the NCAA for interfering with employment opportฯ nities,โ wrote AL.comโs Creg Stephenson this week. โThe coฯ rt filing says Prฯ itt has been โeffectively black-balledโ from working in college athletics for the last five years and characterized the NCAAโs investigation as โflawed.โ
โThe motion for injฯ nctive relief states that Prฯ itt had been approached in recent months by mฯ ltiple schools โ inclฯ ding at least two in the state of Alabama โ aboฯ t working as an analyst or consฯ ltant, โonly to be ฯ ltimately tฯ rned down as a resฯ lt of the NCAAโs actions.โ
According to Stephensonโs report, one of the programs that approached Prฯ itt was Jacksonville State, which talked to the former Tennessee head coach aboฯ t a โjob opportฯ nityโ this past Jฯ ne.
Jacksonville State competes in Conference USA.
Regardless of what anyone thinks aboฯ t Prฯ itt and the job he did at Tennessee, I donโt think thereโs any doฯ bt that most folks agree that the pฯ nishment he received from the NCAA was extreme. According to the NCAA investigation, Prฯ itt (and/or his staff) handed oฯ t aroฯ nd $60,000 in impermissible benefits while at Tennessee.
That amoฯ nt pales in comparison to what players are receiving from NIL deals these days.
Itโs time to let Prฯ itt back into college football. Love him or hate him, he doesnโt deserve to be blackballed from the sport over something completely legal now.
