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According to reports, Jeremy Pruitt has alleged that he offered money to the family of a black player over the murder of George Floyd. The former Tennessee coach received a six-year review order Friday for hiring violations.
Knox News obtained documents through open records requests that reveal data Pruitt provided to investigators.
He made this statement in the early stages of the NCAA’s investigation in January 2021, as well as in his response to the allegations in November 2022.
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Jeremy Pruitt reportedly gave the player’s mother $300 in a Chick-fil-A briefcase in 2020, which is a violation of an NCAA rule.
However, he told NCAA investigators that the racial climate in the country after Floyd was killed by a police officer prompted him to take the action.
“Then you throw in George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, well, so you sit there as a white man and you see all this happen, and you can see these kids suffer.”
“… (It’s) pathetic when you sit in a room and hear grown men, and I’m talking about our coaches too, when they talk about their upbringing and the conditions they’ve been through, because it’s hard for a white man to understand, right.”
Despite breaking NCAA rules, Jeremy Pruitt believes he did the right thing in that moment. He was proud to let the inquisitor know that he would do it again, as he considered the act virtuous and not a violation of the rules as it was perceived. He said:
“I would do it again because I don’t think it breaks the rules (based on what would have been available through the University of Texas Student Aid Fund but not for the pandemic).
I don’t know about all of you, but I have little kids, and I hope one of these days when I’m dead and gone someone will do the right thing for them.”
Jeremy Pruitt claims that the mothers’ testimonies were to protect their sons
After their parents testified, investigators granted limited immunity to several of the players, which would enable them to transfer and participate in sports at other institutions. This circumstance led Pruitt to suspect that some mothers had cooperated to protect their sons.
Jeremy Pruitt recounted an incident where the player’s mother met him in the parking lot of the Volunteer Soccer Facility, who was clearly in financial trouble.
Tearfully, she confided to him that she had exhausted all options and had no other means of meeting her financial obligations.
He expressed his disappointment with mothers for saying things he did not do in order to protect their children.
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