Bruce Pearl directs his team against Ohio State during the first half of a college basketball game in St. Louis.KNOXVILLE – The University of Tennessee’s past took a hit this afternoon, but the Volunteers’ football and men’s basketball programs are breathing sighs of relief.
Former men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl was slapped with a three-year show-cause penalty in the ruling passed down by the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Wednesday afternoon, but the school avoided further sanctions when the COI accepted the school’s self-imposed probation and penalties. The only thing the NCAA added was two years probation for the men’s basketball program.
Former basketball assistant coaches Tony Jones, Steve Forbes and Jason Shay received one-year show-cause penalties, which ban the coaches from recruiting for any NCAA school for the length of the sanction. Any school that would hire Pearl, Jones, Forbes and Shay would also have to file a report to appear before the COI to contest the restrictions.
Pearl and his assistants lied to NCAA investigators about the location of a photo of Pearl and Aaron Craft, who was then a junior in high school and now plays for Ohio State. The staff also discussed the case with each other when instructed not to, and Pearl spoke with Craft’s father in what the COI determined was an attempt to get him to also mislead investigators.
UT’s football program was charged with two major infractions by the NCAA for recruiting activity that occurred under former coach Lane Kiffin’s staff, but the COI “concluded that the evidence was insufficient to support findings of major violations.”