Former Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt is returning to his alma mater of Plainview High School in Alabama as a physical education teacher, according to WVLT’s Paige Dauer on Thursday afternoon. Creg Stephenson of AL.com also confirmed the report and added that Pruitt will be an assistant coach as well.
According to Stephenson via Chris Clark, the principal of Plainview High School, Pruitt will also coach junior-high basketball.
Plainview High School, Pruitt’s alma mater, is located in Pruitt’s hometown of Rainsville, Alabama. Knox News’ Adam Sparks has also reported that Pruitt’s wife, Casey Pruitt, accepted a teaching job at Plainview High School on July 13.
Numerous violations at the University of Tennessee forced the athletic program to fire Pruitt after three years as the head coach in January 2021, subsequently setting off a multi-year investigation by the NCAA. At the end of the investigation, the NCAA announced that Pruitt would receive a six-year show-cause penalty and a one-year suspension among other penalties directed towards the athletic program.
More from RTI: NCAA Hands Down Punishment To Tennessee Football, Jeremy Pruitt
Despite the penalties from the investigation, the 49-year-old coach is able to go back to the high school ranks without any concern. In addition to being a former All-State player for Plainview High School back in the 90s, Pruitt will reunite with his father Dale Pruitt, the current head coach of Plainview High School, who he previously coached under in both 1998 and 2000.
Jeremy Pruitt spent a number of years as a defensive coordinator at SEC schools Alabama and Georgia prior to his stop in Knoxville. Pruitt spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as Alabama’s defensive coordinator, which led him to the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee starting in 2018.
Pruitt’s three-year coaching career as the Tennessee head coach ended with a 5-19 total record after all wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons were vacated as punishment for the violations found during the NCAA’s investigation.
In the immediate aftermath of his firing from Tennessee, Pruitt was hired by Joe Judge and the New York Giants as a defensive assistant but was not retained following the 2021 season.
With the NCAA’s investigation in the rearview window, Pruitt now looks set to return to his hometown of Rainsville, AL, to be a physical education teacher and assistant sports coach at Plainview High School.
One Response
P.E. coach, assistant football coach, and junior high basketball coach! Who knew Pruitt was that talented?
If they have any recruited players I doubt he would steer them to the Vols…