A different Donde Plowman greeted NCAA for Tennessee NIL investigation | Adams

No one can accuse University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman of being a one-trick pony. The NCAA can speak to her versatility.

In Plowman’s first go-round with the NCAA, she was the quintessential southern hostess.

She couldn’t have been more hospitable in the NCAA’s investigation of former UT football coach Jeremy Pruitt. She welcomed the governing body of college sports. Her response was basically “How can I help you?”

Plowman did all the heavy lifting before the NCAA even caught a whiff of Pruitt’s numerous transgressions. UT’s internal investigation dug up the recruiting dirt on Pruitt and his comically inept staff and practically wheel-barrowed it over to NCAA headquarters.

The NCAA subsequently lauded UT for its cooperation and focused the brunt of its punishment on Pruitt and his staff.

Conclusion: The Vols got off light, Pruitt got the dreaded “show-cause" penalty and UT didn’t have to pay its failed coach one cent of buyout money. Plowman deserved much of the credit for the favorable outcome.

Now that the NCAA again has come calling on UT, it has been introduced to a different Plowman. The southern hostess has been replaced by the fiercest of lionesses. She has removed the welcome mat, slammed the door, and called the NCAA everything but competent.

Miss Congeniality is now armed with a sledge hammer. And the NCAA is her target.

Why? Because the NCAA has alleged UT broke rules involving name, image, and likeness benefits for athletes.

That prompted Plowman to go scorched earth on the same group she once treated with more respect than it deserved.

Although I have lavishly lauded the chancellor for how she strategically steered UT through the land mines Pruitt left behind, I like this Donde better. Perhaps, that’s because she has been so unrestrained in her assessment of an institution renowned for inconsistency and ineptitude. In fact, the NCAA has managed college sports as poorly as Pruitt managed Tennessee’s football program.

But I’m not about to waste mental energy bashing the NCAA when Plowman is willing and able to fire away, as evidenced by the email she sent to NCAA President Charles Baker, a former Massachusetts governor. Knox News obtained the email through a public records request.

Plowman said the NCAA was “intellectually dishonest, morally wrong,” and that it “violated the core principle in our country’s justice system of innocent until proven guilty.”

She also took a swipe at how the NCAA’s NIL guidelines have been "unclear and inconsistent."

Inconsistent? Unclear? Nothing new there. I remember listening to a rant from former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian on the same subject while I was covering a Final Four several decades ago.

Plowman said UT has done nothing wrong. Maybe, it hasn’t. Nonetheless, how can you know for sure when it comes to NIL deals?

In ruling that student-athletes could benefit from their name, image and likeness, the NCAA said up front that NIL packages couldn’t be used as a recruiting inducement. But how could they not be? And how could you prove they were?

For example, suppose an athlete commits to a school while saying how much he likes the program and coach. Then, once committed, he bargains financially with a sports collective. How can you prove the NIL deal was the reason for his commitment?

The NCAA’s case against Tennessee is related to the recruitment of five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava, and a flight he took to Knoxville when he was a high school football player in California.

The flight was first reported Tuesday by the New York Times. The timing and source of payment for the flight could determine whether that constituted an NCAA violation.

More: Why Tennessee football should celebrate Nick Saban retiring from Alabama | Adams

This NIL business is just so murky. What’s legal in one state might not be legal in another, which means eventually cases like this will have to be decided in court.

The NCAA’s recent record in court hasn’t been favorable.

And this time it doesn't have Plowman in its corner.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: A different Donde Plowman greeted NCAA for Tennessee NIL investigation