Josh Heupel Discusses Tennessee Concluding Internal Investigation
Tennessee fired Jeremy Pruitt and multiple other staff members with cause on January 18th of this year. The decision came after the university launched an internal investigation into alleged recruiting improprieties, which ultimately led to the abrupt end of Pruitt's tenure in Knoxville.
That was just the beginning of the process, though, as Tennessee left no stone unturned as they continued interviews and gathering evidence for months.
On Friday of last week, the university announced its investigation had concluded and would not result in self-imposing a bowl ban.
"The university has completed its investigation of rules violations within the football program," a statement from the university read at the time. "We are moving forward with our focus on rebuilding our football program and supporting student-athletes. We will now work to finalize a fair and efficient resolution through the applicable process while navigating a rapidly changing landscape in intercollegiate athletics that includes transformative change for the NCAA, the Alston decision and significant new name, image and likeness rights for our student-athletes. We will hold ourselves accountable considering the nature of the violations, our prompt investigation and corrective personnel actions, the new recruiting environment and other factors. In the interest of protecting the rights of innocent student-athletes, the university will not impose a postseason bowl ban. NCAA bylaws prevent us from sharing details of the investigation at this time, but we do commit to providing that information when we are able. We appreciate the patience and support of our fans during this process."
Today, during his Monday press conference ahead of Saturday's game against Georgia, Josh Heupel was asked for his thoughts on the investigation coming to an end.
"For our staff and players, I have said it since the time I got here, I really believed this was just going to be a speedbump for our program," Heupel said. "The kids that are here and the kids that we are recruiting are going to be able to go continue to compete for championships, and I fully believe that."
"I think it was really unique that our university found out about what was going on, reported it, and has been transparent since the very beginning. For our kids, I think it is really important to be able to move forward."
Tennessee has already self-imposed at least a couple of penalties over the last few months to try and get ahead of what the NCAA could attempt to do. The NCAA will still have a final ruling, but the fact that Tennessee has moved in this direction is certainly a positive sign of how this is going to end.
