Fired Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, wife Casey Pruitt hired as Alabama high school teachers

Fired Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has returned to his high school alma mater in the wake of an NCAA infractions case that effectively banned him from coaching in college.

Pruitt was hired on July 27 as a physical education at Plainview High School in Rainsville, Alabama. He also will coach junior high boys basketball at the K-12 school, according to the DeKalb County superintendent's office.

His wife, Casey Pruitt, was hired on July 13 as an English teacher at the same school.

The contracts for both begin Aug. 1, pending a routine background check and appropriate certification, according to DeKalb County school board agendas and meeting videos posted on the Facebook page of the Mountain Valley News in Alabama.

Pruitt was given a six-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA for his part in 200 infractions committed at UT under his watch from 2018 to early 2021. Of course, an NCAA show-cause order has no bearing on high school football in Alabama, where Pruitt, 49, first made his name as a skilled defensive coach more than 20 years ago.

A show-cause penalty means a university cannot hire a coach or recruiter without NCAA approval during the length of the ban. Pruitt's show-cause includes a 100% suspension for the first year of employment should an NCAA school hire in him in any athletics position.

Casey also was implicated in the NCAA case. Mothers of former UT players said Casey gave them cash for car and rent payments.

Casey is as a former NCAA compliance worker. She was in charge of enforcing NCAA rules in athletic departments at Troy University, University of Oklahoma and Florida State University from 2009-13, before marrying Jeremy. But the NCAA did not penalize Casey for her involvement in the UT infractions case because she did not work in college athletics at the time.

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Jeremy Pruitt joins his father at Plainview

Pruitt's father, Dale, is the head football coach at Plainview. Dale and Jeremy Pruitt coached there together in 1998 and 2000, when Jeremy was the defensive backs coach.

Pruitt was an all-state player at Plainview in the 1990s before playing at Middle Tennessee and Alabama. He stayed at Alabama as a graduate assistant in 1997 and then returned to Plainview to begin a successful high school coaching career.

He was the defensive coordinator for back-to-back state championship teams at prep powerhouse Hoover High before jumping to college coaching.

Pruitt won five national titles as an assistant at Alabama (2016-17, 2007-12), Georgia (2014-15) and Florida State (2013). His first head coaching job was at UT.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Fired Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, wife hired by Alabama high school