Beneath the flash and pageantry of college football is an underlying darkness. An abyss of unfulfilled promise that got away. For every success story, there are those who never got a fair opportunity to shine and express themselves. The business is cutthroat, and it’s the survival of the fittest. You have to deliver in the wins column. Which former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt largely succeeded in doing. However, his departure from Knoxville wasn’t merely based on results on the gridiron. It had to do with issues off it. Which, he alleges, he got framed for. Amid news of a lawsuit against the NCAA, the court of public opinion has given its verdict.

Jeremy Pruitt was a hot commodity in the coaching space from the 00s through to the late 2010s. He’s won 5 national championships while serving in different capacities at Nick Saban’s Alabama. His versatility, ranging from director of player development to D-backs coach, gave him a shot at the defensive coordinator role at Florida State in 2013. A year later, Pruitt took his talents from Tallahassee to Athens. He served in the same capacity at Georgia in the pre-Kirby Smart era. Whose arrival in 2016 naturally brought about wholesale changes to the staff. Now that Pruitt was uprooted once again, it was only right he exchanged sports with Smart and succeeded him back where this carousel began—at Bama. This 2nd stint in Tuscaloosa, now as DC, became the launching pad for his first head coaching job at Rocky Top. A watershed moment Pruitt probably wishes to walk back on.

Jeremy Pruitt took charge of a Vols program that was a bit of a poisoned chalice at the time. The work his successor, Josh Heupel, has done in a short span really papers over how poor Tennessee was when Pruitt arrived in 2018. A complete afterthought in the grand scheme of the SEC. He took over an outfit that finished the previous season 4-8, with all 8 losses coming in conference play. To be fair, Pruitt did force an upturn. He finished year 1 at 5-7 and even made the threshold for Bowl eligibility in his sophomore year. The Vols won their Gator Bowl date against Indiana as well. A win they eventually had to vacate after an internal investigation by the NCAA. The domino effect has now brought about a 9-figure lawsuit.

In an effort to accelerate his program’s rise, Jeremy Pruitt may have flown too close to the sun. The authorities deemed Pruitt and his family to have made illicit payments of $60,000 to recruits during his time in Tennessee. This preceded the NIL era, of course, when paying players was outlawed. As punishment, the NCAA handed Pruitt a 6-year show-cause order in 2023. Which meant if he took the job at any program under their jurisdiction, he’d have to serve a 1-year suspension initially. But the damage had already been done in 2020. When this ordeal came about after his 3rd season, the Tennessee brass gave Pruitt and a number of other staff members their marching orders. 5 years on from the NCAA essentially rendering his career in CFB over, Jeremy Pruitt wants some get back.

According to the On3 IG handle, “Former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt is suing the NCAA for $100M, claiming the association ‘conspired with Tennessee’ to make him a ‘sacrificial lamb’’😳.” In the comments section of this post, the social media verse was unanimous in their feeling. Whether Pruitt actually did wrong remains to be unearthed; however, the football sphere has passed its judgment—that he’s got to be kidding with that figure! As well as the fact it’s been half a decade, and so his actions come across as him being salty, things haven’t worked out since. Here’s an array of some of the best reactions to this news:

Jeremy Pruitt doesn’t quite have the backing of the public

“Bruh $100M?!?” wrote one person. The figure is rather audacious, to be fair. It almost undercuts the seriousness of the lawsuit. Albeit who knows what Jeremy Pruitt would’ve stood to make had he seen out his Vols career in full. “Jeremy Pruitt. It has been years. Get over it,” wrote another. Some people saw the funny side of this. One Tennessee fan said, “Buddy has way more faith in the NCAA than I do if he thinks they would conspire with us of all schools.😭”

“This gives me ‘I’m broke’ vibes,” said another. One comment read, “This might be the first lawsuit the NCAA actually wins.” The sport is at a juncture where dynamics change constantly. This state of flux between the NIL era and revenue sharing has opened the governing body up to a ton of lawsuits akin to Pruitt’s. “Bro cheated and went 2-7 in 2020 and blamed the NCAA 💀” hit right where it’ll hurt Pruitt.

What comes of this lawsuit is very much inconspicuous. But you’d hope Jeremy Pruitt’s got ample evidence from what the masses seem to think. A cheap shot angling for a payday or an actual travesty that needs justice? We’ll know in due course. As for the Tennessee program, they sure would’ve had regrets about their decision.