Report: Jeremy Pruitt seeking court order against NCAA to allow him to join Jacksonville State coaching staff

Former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt is seeking a court order against the NCAA, CBS Sports reported. The preliminary injunction would allow Jacksonville State to hire him to its coaching staff as an analyst.

According to documents obtained by CBS Sports, Pruitt’s attorney’s wrote in a court motion dated Oct. 17 that he has been “approached about coaching opportunities at multiple colleges and universities, at least two of which are in the state of Alabama, only to be ultimately turned down as a result of the NCAA’s actions.”

Documents also showed Jacksonville State was trying to hire Pruitt as an analyst. DeKalb County judge Andrew Hairston ordered the case go to mediation.

Pruitt received a six-year show cause from the NCAA in 2023 as a result of the investigation into alleged recruiting violations. Additionally, he would have to serve a one-year suspension upon his hiring at another school. The investigation included an allegation of $60,000 in cash or gifts given to football recruits or players by Pruitt, his wife, numerous coaches, staff and boosters.

Jacksonville State head coach Charles Kelly worked for Pruitt at Tennessee in 2018 as special teams and safeties coach. Pruitt’s son, Jayse, also played quarterback at Jacksonville State.

Jeremy Pruitt filed a lawsuit in March against the NCAA. He alleged the NCAA co-conspired with Tennessee and made him a “sacrificial lamb” for rules violations, per the filing.

More on Jeremy Pruitt’s legal battle with the NCAA

In July, the NCAA filed motion to dismiss Jeremy Pruitt’s $100 million suit against the association and argued the court in Alabama “does not have personal jurisdiction” over the association. The NCAA added the court was “not a proper venue for this action.” If it was a proper venue, the NCAA said, “this is not a convenient venue for the parties and witnesses who will be involved in this action, nor would litigating this case here advance the interests of justice.”

“The NCAA is not subject to specific personal jurisdiction in Alabama because none of Pruitt’s claims arise out of or relate to any contacts the NCAA might have had with the state of Alabama,” reads the filing. “Indeed, Pruitt does not allege the NCAA engaged in any wrongful conduct in Alabama whatsoever. … Accordingly, this Court should dismiss Pruitt’s Complaint against the NCAA without prejudice in its entirety.”

In the suit, Pruitt claimed Tennessee was illegally paying players before he arrived and he reported multiple violations to then-Volunteers athletic director Phillip Fulmer in 2017. Fulmer announced his retirement at the same time as Pruitt’s firing, but officials said the decision was independent and unrelated to the football program’s actions.

Fulmer told Pruitt that “he would handle it,” according to the complaint. In the suit filed by Pruitt, he claims that the NCAA applied rules against him that “had been essentially abolished in 2021 by the United States Supreme Court ruling.”

“After his termination from the University, Jeremy learned that one or more individuals in the UT Athletics Department or boosters had systematically engaged in making payments to players at a time when NCAA rules did not allow such payments,” according to the complaint.