Think of all the money they’ll save on buyouts.

Shot.

Pruitt’s exit comes on the heels of Tennessee launching an in-house investigation dating back to November into alleged recruiting improprieties that sources told ESPN centered in part on extra benefits provided to football recruits on unofficial visits. Pruitt, with his attorneys present, met with investigators for several hours Thursday. That meeting was monitored by NCAA officials via Zoom. At least one other assistant, inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer, had a lengthy meeting with investigators Wednesday, also with his attorneys present and NCAA officials monitoring virtually.

Sources told ESPN the investigation uncovered multiple alleged Level I violations.

Chaser.

Tennessee on Pruitt: “The University concluded that the NCAA will likely find that you failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program…”

— David Ubben (@davidubben) January 18, 2021

Go away and leave the damned bottle on the bar.

Tennessee assistants Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermeyer are also being fired for cause.

— David Ubben (@davidubben) January 18, 2021

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Forget it, Knoxville. It’s Jeremy.

Sources: Tennessee will be parting ways with coach Jeremy Pruitt today. AD Phil Fulmer's future will also be addressed.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 18, 2021

Damn, where’d I put that popcorn bag?

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UPDATE:  Wolken writes that it’ll be a clean sweep.

University of Tennessee officials are discussing a sweeping change in football program leadership that would include head coach Jeremy Pruitt and athletics director Philip Fulmer, two people with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.

Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the of the sensitivity of the issue.

The decision to part ways with both of them could be made as early as Monday, which would represent Tennessee’s coach and athletics director being fired almost simultaneously for the second time in a little over three years.

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UPDATE #2:  More deets here.

Jeremy Pruitt is out as Tennessee’s football coach, ending one of the worst tenures in program history.

Pruitt has been fired for cause, according to University of Tennessee sources with knowledge of the situation, meaning the university will not pay his buyout.

Pruitt lasted just three seasons and leaves behind a program that is under investigation for alleged NCAA rules violations.

Additionally, athletics director Phillip Fulmer will retire, sources said, after UT hires an AD to replace him, because he wants his successor to choose the next football coach. Fulmer made the decision to step down, and his departure is not tied to the investigation.

A sad day for Tennessee football, which makes it a great day in our neck of the woods.

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UPDATE #3:

February 5, 2020 pic.twitter.com/p4cZMzvXYc

— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) January 18, 2021

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UPDATE #4:  Turns out this didn’t age well.

I would hate for Tennessee fans to deluge all the national media members who called us idiots for rejecting Schiano and making Pruitt happen. Boom, bitches.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 13, 2018

At all.

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UPDATE #5:

Jim Chaney left Georgia for Tennessee OC job two years ago this month.

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) January 18, 2021

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UPDATE #6:  PAWWWLLL!!!

“Phillip Fulmer saved this program with the hiring of Jeremy Pruitt.”

Paul Finebaum@OldTakesExposed

pic.twitter.com/Vz7BgL3m9c

— 704 Dawg (@FSFRecruits) January 18, 2021

Numbers game

Also from Mike Griffith this morning:

The Georgia football roster has not yet been updated online and has been fluid to say the least, as DawgNation has worked to keep up with via our ever-changing transaction post.

By one “unofficial” count, there are currently 82 players on scholarship who are enrolled in the program. And, by “unofficial” that means there could be more roster turnover that has taken place but not yet been made official.

Georgia is expected to add at least eight or nine more players to the roster before next season, meaning that more attrition from the list below is a certainty.

The big question: Who’s out?

No, I have no idea why “unofficial” is in quote marks.  If he’s right about the additions, of course there will have to be some roster management, because 90 or 91 is well above the 85-scholarship limit.

Unlike Griffith, I’m more interested in the arrivals than the departures.  I can see a couple more 2021 signees and a couple of incoming transfers, but eight or nine fresh faces?  Any ideas whom he’s referring to?

Dayum, Clemmins.

First, Justyn Ross announces he’s coming back for the 2021 season, and now this.

Nolan Turner announced Sunday night he is coming back to school. Clemson is returning all 11 starters from its defense https://t.co/EiIZgu7P7G

— Matt Connolly (@MattatTheState) January 18, 2021

The weird thing is going to be reading the preseason analysis of Georgia’s offense vs. Clemson’s defense as strength against strength.

Inside the mind of Kirby Smart

So, a couple of notes from this Mike Griffith piece on the staff opening resulting from Charlton Warren’s departure:

• “Warren and receivers coach Cortez Hankton were the only two UGA returning on-field coaches not to get raises following the 2019 season.”
• “Sources have indicated Smart is looking for more of a players’ coach to take over the secondary.”

Somehow, I don’t think Warren got dinged for not being enough of a players’ coach.  A quick check of the 247Sports 2021 recruiter rankings doesn’t show Warren’s name in the top 250.  I’m guessing that matters more to Kirby than how buddy buddy the secondary coach is with his players.

Real spring football

In light of my last post, this is an awkward question, perhaps, but how many of you will watch FCS football this spring?

In a normal school year, members of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team would have just returned to campus to begin the spring term, with a little time to rest up after a fall semester full of football games and a renewed focus on the winter workouts coming up.

But as everyone knows, 2020 wasn’t a normal year. And these aren’t normal times. So when the Mocs returned over the weekend, they did so in anticipation of two weeks of winter workouts that will lead up to official practices — not those of the “spring” variety — starting in early February. It’s all in preparation for a spring semester season in the Football Championship Subdivision, with the Southern Conference playing an eight-game schedule.

The Mocs — who played one game in 2020, a 13-10 loss at Football Bowl Subdivision member Western Kentucky on Oct. 24 — will kick off their league slate with a home game against Virginia Military Institute on Feb. 20. The FCS playoffs will run from mid-April to mid-May, with the field limited to 16 teams (11 league champions and five at-large selections) instead of 24 for this edition.

It’s kind of interesting that they’re using the pandemic to shrink the size of the postseason.

“I’m uncomfortable coaching.”

Shocked, not shocked.

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey believes money will be the main reason the NCAA will continue playing basketball this season and hold its men’s and women’s tournaments amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The answer is this: The season will continue on. It’s called the almighty dollar,” Mulkey said after the sixth-ranked Lady Bears lost 75-71 to Iowa State on Saturday night. “The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men’s tournament. The almighty dollar is more important than the health and welfare of me, the players or anybody else.”

‘Ya think?  And I thought it was something, something doing it for the kids.

Musical palate cleanser, “the greatest record producer ever” edition

A horrible man, a musical genius has passed away.

Phil Spector, one of the most influential and successful record producers in rock ’n’ roll, who generated a string of hits in the early 1960s defined by the lavish instrumental treatment known as the wall of sound, but whose life was upended when he was sentenced to prison for the murder of a woman at his home, died on Saturday. He was 81.

RIP Phil Spector. A genius irredeemably conflicted, he was the ultimate example of the Art always being better than the Artist, having made some of the greatest records in history based on the salvation of love while remaining incapable of giving or receiving love his whole life.

— Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) January 17, 2021

It’s a weird world we live in.