Tennessee has dropped from the top 10 in all-time college football victories after the program was forced to vacate wins recorded in two seasons under Jeremy Pruitt as part of the sanctions handed down Friday by the NCAA for recruiting violations.
All 11 wins in the 2019 and 2020 Tennessee football seasons have been wiped from the record books.
Before the wins were vacated, Tennessee had climbed into the top 10 all-time in college football history. The Volunteers had a record of 867-410-3, tied with Southern Cal for No. 10. Now the Volunteers drop to No. 11 with an all-time record of 856-410-53.
Ineligible players appeared in all those vacated victories, a university spokesperson confirmed. In addition to the vacated wins, those players’ statistics will also be removed from the books. The statistics of eligible players and any awards given to them, however, will be retained.
Tennessee acknowledged that 16 players competed while ineligible in those games because they were involved in any of the 18 highest-level violations and 200 individual infractions committed during Pruitt’s tenure from 2018 to early 2021.
Some of those players later had their eligibility reinstated, including a few as part of an immunity agreement in exchange for cooperation with the NCAA investigation. But any wins are vacated in which those players competed from the time they became ineligible through the time they were reinstated.
The players names were not included in the NCAA report, and they were redacted from Tennessee’s investigation documents.
The penalty is part of Tennessee’s five-year probation, which also includes 28 scholarship cuts, recruiting restrictions and a fine of more than $8 million, but not a postseason ban.
Pruitt got a six-year show-cause penalty. Seven of his former Tennessee assistant coaches and staff members also got multiyear show-cause orders. A show-cause penalty means a university cannot hire a coach or recruiter without being penalized during the length of the ban unless the program gets NCAA approval. Pruitt’s show-cause includes a 100% suspension for his first year of employment should an NCAA school hire in him in any athletics position.
What happens to those games and Pruitt’s record?
The games don’t change from wins to losses. And opponents don’t get to count them as wins. Instead, it’s as if they never happened.
In the record book, Tennessee’s record will change from 8-5 to 0-5 in 2019. And it will change from 3-7 to 0-7 in 2020.
Pruitt’s record at the school will drop from 16-19 to 5-19.
His victories against Chattanooga, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Alabama-Birmingham and Vanderbilt in 2019 are erased. The win over Indiana was in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
The Vols’ wins over Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt in 2020 also are stricken from the record.
Tennessee drops out of top 10 all-time
The penalty certainly harms the school’s proud football history, bouncing the Vols from the top 10 programs with the most wins.
The changes will be reflected in the school’s media guide and on its website. By rule, it must erase any acknowledgement of those wins in all printed and online materials.
The media guide distributed at SEC Media Days next week in Nashville will not yet reflect the vacated wins. The SEC required that media guides be produced before the NCAA decision was announced on Friday.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Emailadam.sparks@knoxnews.com. Twitter@AdamSparks.
