Former Alabama Crimson Tide defensive coordinator and Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt has been trying to get back into the coaching game for years now following sanctions and repercussions from the pay-for-play scandal that ended his tenure in Knoxville.
It’s now becoming clear that the reason he has not returned yet is not because of schools not having interest, but more so the NCAA preventing it from happening.
Pruitt received a six-year show cause once the NCAA concluded its investigation into Pruitt, which means that any school hiring him would have to go through several hurdles to be ruled eligible to do so. Essentially, it makes it difficult if not impossible for the coach to receive a new job.
One of those schools who has been pursuing Pruitt is Jacksonville State, who has been attempting to hire him in an analyst role under fellow former Alabama, as well as Auburn University, assistant Charles Kelly.
Earlier this month, Pruitt filed in court seeking a preliminary injunction from an Alabama judge to prevent the NCAA from enforcing the show-case, indicating the noise between him and Jacksonville State is real but needs to clear legal hurdles.
Earlier this year, Pruitt made headlines by filing a $100 million lawsuit against the NCAA which many saw as an effort to get them to dismiss the show-case, and now he has also amended that lawsuit to include a letter Jacksonville State president Don Killingsworth and athletics director Greg Seitz. The letter requested that the program be allowed to hire Pruitt without any penalties or restrictions.
Pruitt has spent time over the last several years as a coach and PE teacher at Plainview High School in Rainsville.
Whether or not anything comes of this remains to be seen, but it is clear that schools have legitimate interest in hiring Pruitt despite the way things ended at Tennessee.
Time will tell if that interest materializes into anything more.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
