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Tennessee Vols football coach Josh Heupel reacts to NCAA’s punishment, avoiding bowl ban
Tennessee Volunteers football coach Josh Heupel joined The Paul Finebaum show on ESPN Radio on Friday afternoon just hours after learning of the NCAA’s punishment handed down to his program.
After uncovering over 200 individual infractions committed by the school during former coach Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions announced the Tennessee football program managed to evade a bowl ban, but was handed a fine of over $8 million.
For the Tennessee fans, coaches and players, the main takeaway is that the Vols avoided the bowl ban and will remain eligible for postseason play.
“Just super excited,” Heupel told ESPN on Friday. “I’m just really excited for the kids.”
As part of the imposed penalties, Tennessee has been give five years probation and the sum of the financial sanctions will bring the total penalty closer to $9 million, ESPN reports. Furthermore, the program will experience a reduction of 28 scholarships in total plus a reduction in visits and limits on recruiting contacts.
“Excited that we were able to see a great conclusion, our administration’s work for 2 and a half years to find a resolution to this,” Heupel said on The Finebaum Show.
“They found out about what’s going on, reported it, and been transparent and we want to protect our athletes and make sure they have an opportunity to compete for championships and were able to do that and really happy that we get a chance to put this behind us and move forward now.”
As for Pruitt, the former head coach received a six-year show-cause order. Additionally, if Pruitt were to be hired by an NCAA school he would face a suspension for the entirety of the first season.
Heupel said he told his players and staff about the penalties via a Zoom call and it’s “business as usual” moving forward.
“We had a Zoom as soon as we found out this morning what the actual penalties would be,” he said. “We had a Zoom and went through that with them so they were aware and up to speed on everything that was going on. Then when our players finished their workouts today, I’m out of town, but we had a Zoom meeting as well. It’s kind of business as usual and we’re ready to push forward.”
The $8 million fine reflects the financial consequences the school would have endured had it been ruled ineligible for postseason play during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
The university’s athletic department proactively imposed 18 scholarship reductions, allowing them to only cut an additional 10 scholarships over the course of the next five seasons.
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