The NCAA is taking its fight with Jeremy Pruitt to the Alabama Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that could put the former Tennessee head coach back on a college sideline as early as the 2026 season.
To rewind: Pruitt was handed a six-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA in 2023 for what it called “aggravated” rules violations stemming from his time at Tennessee. That penalty, in effect, made him untouchable for NCAA programs until 2029 unless a school was willing to jump through serious hoops-including accepting a one-year suspension for Pruitt if hired before July 13, 2029.
But in December, a DeKalb County judge in Alabama granted Pruitt a temporary injunction, blocking the NCAA from enforcing that show-cause order. Judge Andrew J. Hairston wrote in his decision that the NCAA wouldn’t suffer “immediate harm” if Pruitt returned to college coaching, opening the door-at least temporarily-for his return to the collegiate ranks.
Now the NCAA is pushing back, filing a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Alabama Supreme Court. That’s a legal maneuver that asks a higher court to compel a lower one to act-in this case, to set aside Hairston’s ruling. The petition, reportedly several hundred pages long, was filed Friday morning but wasn’t publicly available on the Alabama Appellate Courts website as of mid-day.
This legal battle is just one front in a broader war between Pruitt and the NCAA. Back in March, Pruitt filed a $100 million lawsuit against the organization, arguing that the sanctions were overly punitive and have kept him from resuming his coaching career. He’s also claimed that multiple college programs have expressed interest in hiring him in some capacity.
It’s a complicated saga for a coach whose career has seen both championship highs and compliance lows. Pruitt was a key figure on four Alabama national title teams (2009, 2011, 2012, and 2017) during his time under Nick Saban, and he helped Florida State win it all in 2013 as defensive coordinator. That pedigree helped him land the head coaching gig at Tennessee in 2018, but his tenure in Knoxville was short-lived-he went 16-19 over three seasons before being fired in January 2021 amid a cascade of recruiting violations.
The NCAA’s case against Pruitt was one of the most high-profile enforcement actions in recent memory, involving cash payments and other impermissible benefits to recruits and their families. After his dismissal from Tennessee, Pruitt spent 2021 with the New York Giants as part of their NFL staff, then returned to his roots in Northeast Alabama, coaching high school football and later serving as an analyst at Jacksonville State. The NCAA granted a rare exception for that role.
Now, with the legal tide potentially shifting, Pruitt could be inching closer to a return to the college game. But the NCAA clearly isn’t ready to let that happen without a fight. This case is far from over, and the outcome could have ripple effects not just for Pruitt, but for how the NCAA enforces major infractions moving forward.