Tennessee football presser recap: Kevin Steele interim head coach
In the wake of Tennessee football firing head coach Jeremy Pruitt, outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer and its entire recruiting staff along with news Phillip Fulmer stepping down, the university called a press conference Monday. Fulmer, UT System President Randy Boyd and UT Chancellor Donde Plowman were part of it.
There was plenty to address in that press conference, which you can see above, provided by the Knoxville News Sentinel. How many people were fired? What is the future of the program? Who will take over as interim head coach?
In this post, we’ll break down all of the biggest takeaways from the media session. Here is everything you need to know about the state of Tennessee football based on what was announced on Monday.
Kevin Steele will take over as interim head coach.
Probably the biggest news of the day was this piece of evidence. Kevin Steele is a former Vol who was hired just last week as a defensive assistant after years as the Auburn Tigers’ defensive coordinator. He will handle interim head coaching duties while all the other changes take place.
Jeremy Pruitt and nine other people in total were fired for cause.
Yes, 10 people in total were gone, including Pruitt. Donde Plowman didn’t specify who the other nine people were. However, we have enough evidence, thanks to what David Ubben of The Athletic initially tweeted, that Felton and Niedermeyer were among the other nine.
John Brice of Football Scoop reports the firings include the director and assistant director of player personnel, four members of the on-campus recruiting staff and one analyst / quality control coach. Pruitt was due a buyout of over $12 million, but since he was fired for cause, Rocky Top will not have to pay it. That could change, though, if Pruitt contests it.
The investigation is serious.
We don’t know how bad it is, but based on Plowman’s quotes, Tennessee football could be in serious trouble. She said that they were looking at “serious potential NCAA violations” which does not sound good.
Plowman said she had been informed about Level I and Level II violations. Level I is the most severe and can include lack of institutional control, academic fraud and failure to cooperate in an NCAA investigation. Simply put, the Vols are in trouble.
Phillip Fulmer is not implicated in the investigation.
According to Plowman, a “credible source” informed them of the violations. However, she did not say who that source was or even if the source was from within the athletic department. She also made clear, though, that it didn’t lead back to Fulmer at all, which many people were wondering.
A new athletic director will hire the next head coach.
As had already been reported before the press conference, the Vols will hire a new athletic director to replace Fulmer. Well, Plowman confirmed that they won’t find a new head coach until the athletic director is in place.
That makes for back to back major searches coming up. Although it makes sense, the university may not even need an athletic director to find a new Tennessee football coach. There are enough obvious candidates available. Still, this means Vol Nation will have to wait and see what happens. Probation and the delayed hiring of a coach could wreck the program.