Former Tennessee HC Jeremy Pruitt joins Alabama HS as a PE teacher: Reports

For the third time in his career, Jeremy Pruitt has taken up a role at Plainview High School, Rainsville, Alabama. This time, he is reportedly going back to the school as a Physical Education teacher. Previously, he has worked as a defensive backs coach and as a defensive coordinator at the school.

Pruitt, who was head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers from 2018 to 2020, is an alumnus of Plainview High School, graduating in the early '90s.

While there, he played football under his father as head coach, and now, returns now to teach with his father as head coach again. According to reports, Pruitt will resume his new role at the school on August 1.

The 49-year-old's tenure at Tennessee is blighted by a series of NCAA violations that ultimately led to his sack early in 2021. Josh Huepel was hired in his place while he went on to the New York Giants as Senior Defensive Assistant.

But the consequences of the violations that occurred under his watch continue to haunt Tennessee football.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions reached the conclusion that the program committed more than 200 violations,18 of which were classified as Level I.

As a result, Jeremy Pruitt was hit with a show-cause in case of his appointment by any other NCAA institution. Tougher luck for Tennessee as it incurred an $8 million fine and saw 11 of its wins in Pruitt's final two seasons annulled.

A timeline of Jeremy Pruitt's coaching career

Jeremy Pruitt's coaching career dates back to 1997 when he worked in Alabama as a student assistant, followed by stints at Plainview High School and Fort Payne High School between 1998 and 2003. In between, he was defensive backs coach at West Alabama in 1999.

His high school stints continued at Hoover High School where he served Rush Propst as assistant coach from 2004 to 2006. He returned to Alabama in 2007 as the director of player development.

He started coaching Alabama's defensive backs in 2009 and improved the quality of the Tide's secondary. 247Sports awarded him the National Recruiter of the Year in 2012.

As defensive coordinator at Florida State in 2013, he led a defense that ranked number one in scoring defense and came third in total defense. Next, he was at Georgia as defensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016.

He then returned to Alabama and replaced Kirby Smart who went the opposite way to become head coach. It was from Alabama he got hired by Tennessee in December 2017.