Volunteers avoid bowl ban as NCAA finds over 200 violations - ESPN

The Tennessee football program avoided a bowl ban but was fined more than $8 million by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, which announced its punishment for the Volunteers on Friday after finding more than 200 individual infractions committed by the school.

Among the penalties handed down, Tennessee has been placed on five years' probation, was given an $8 million fine among other financial penalties and will see a total reduction of 28 scholarships; the school was credited for its self-imposed 16-scholarship reduction over the past two seasons.

The $8 million fine, which the NCAA said was «equivalent to the financial impact the school would have faced if it missed the postseason during the 2023 and 2024 seasons» is believed to be the largest ever levied in an infractions case. It could also signal a trend toward stiffer financial fines in future infraction cases.

«The panel encountered a challenging set of circumstances related to prescribing penalties in this case,» the infractions committee said in its decision. «The panel urges the Infractions Process Committee and the membership to clearly define its philosophy regarding penalties — which extends beyond postseason bans — and memorialize that philosophy in an updated set of penalty guidelines.»

Tennessee had been charged with 18 Level 1 violations — the most severe in the NCAA rules structure — in July 2022 stemming from the tenure of former coach Jeremy Pruitt. Included among the more than 200 infractions were charges of $60,000 in impermissible benefits and both Pruitt and his wife, Casey, making cash payments to players' families.

Pruitt received a six-year show-cause order and would be suspended for the first full season if he was hired by an NCAA