Donde Plowman on letter to NCAA, Charlie Baker: 'Mama Bear came out'

In January, Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman was at the center one of the top stories of college sports after penning a scathing letter to the NCAA. She issued a response one day after news broke of an investigation into the Vols and said Charlie Baker denied a request for an in-person meeting about the situation.

Speaking on The Paul Finebaum Show Friday afternoon, Plowman said she wanted to get in front of any allegations the NCAA would issue against Tennessee. Her reason was simple. If any charges came down, the school could not respond afterward – which is why her inner “Mama Bear came out.”

“I’ll say a little bit about why I did that, because we had a pretty good idea they wanted to charge us with some things we hadn’t done,” Plowman told Finebaum. “When you’re a member of the NCAA, you agree to, if you get charged, you can’t talk about it. So I felt it was necessary to tell our side of the story first, which I did in that letter.”

Plowman received plenty of praise from the Tennessee fan base for the letter, which was in response to a reported NCAA investigation into alleged NIL violations. Sports Illustrated first reported the inquiry into multiple sports and “major” violations, and The New York Times added part of the inquiry was into the recruitment of Nico Iamaleava.

In the letter, obtained by Volquest, Donde Plowman fiercely defended the university’s process before confirming Baker denied the in-person meeting. She also famously said, “In short, the NCAA is failing.”

“I just felt I had to say it,” Plowman said. “I told people around here, I’m a mom. My son lives in Austin, Texas. If a teacher in his school accused him of something he didn’t do, I would speak up. Now, if he did do it, he would be in trouble with me. That’s kind of how I felt. Mama Bear came out. I’m in charge of this university. That was it.”

According to the New York Times, Iamaleava allegedly traveled on to Knoxville on a private plane that was funded by boosters. His recruitment was a high-profile one as he agreed to a landmark NIL deal, which The Athletic reported could be worth up to $8 million.

In light of the situation, the attorneys general in Tennessee and Virginia filed a lawsuit against the NCAA related to its ruled on NIL and recruiting. That later led to a preliminary injunction that allowed NIL collectives to communicate with high school recruits and transfer portal players during the recruiting process.