Passwords for free parking at Tennessee games? Jeremy Pruitt recruits said these magic words
A secret password would’ve gotten a Tennessee football fan into premier parking lots near Neyland Stadium during fired coach Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure.
But only a few coveted recruits and their family and friends were told the passwords, NCAA investigators found. And the passwords were changed for each Vols football game.
Wouldn’t you like to know what the passwords were for those games?
Fortunately, Knox News obtained text messages by Pruitt’s staff via public records requests, and they reveal the secret passwords.
Parking lot passwords were a minor part of the pervasive recruiting scandal that included more than 200 infractions under Pruitt from 2018 to early 2021.
But free parking amounted to about $1,500 in impermissible perks, which broke NCAA rules because they were used by recruits on unofficial visits to campus. Recruits are required to pay their own expenses on those trips.
Investigators confirmed 37 instances of free gameday parking. There’s no way to know how many more recruits got free parking, but the practice was referenced by Pruitt’s staff in text messages as a regular occurrence.
By the 2020 season, Pruitt’s staff simply left parking passes in envelopes at the front desk of the recruits’ hotel. Of course, they also paid for those hotel stays, which violated more NCAA rules.
But during the 2019 season, recruits and their guests needed to utter these secret passwords to parking attendants to access premier Neyland Stadium lots on gamedays.
‘It’s football time in Tennessee!’
This didn’t age well.
For the 2019 opener, Pruitt’s staff thought it was appropriate for recruits to say, “It’s football time in Tennessee!” – the famous John Ward radio call – to park their car next to Neyland Stadium free of charge.
The Vols suffered a shocking 38-30 loss to Georgia State. It was clearly not football time in Tennessee, at least not that week.
But it’s interesting to think about how that plan could’ve gone awry.
After all, that saying is shouted countless times by UT fans on gamedays. You have to wonder if any enthusiastic fan greeted a parking attendant with those words and then to their surprise gained free entry into a premier lot.
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‘Bring down BYU’
Again, this didn’t go as planned. UT definitely didn’t bring down BYU.
The Vols suffered another upset, falling 29-26 in double-overtime to BYU.
By season’s end, those first two losses seemed out of place. UT finished with an 8-5 record, so it would’ve been 10-3 without those disappointing performances.
Of course, all wins from that season were vacated as punishment for the recruiting scandal.
‘Noon at Neyland’
UT staffers were short on creativity for the Chattanooga game. It was a noon kickoff, hence the “noon at Neyland” password.
But they, at least, used alliteration to give these magic words a nice ring.
The Vols won 45-0. It was Pruitt’s second shutout as a coach, but he doesn’t get to claim that victory as part of the NCAA penalty.
Why no passwords for Georgia game?
Recruits on unofficial visits and their guests didn’t get free parking for the Georgia game, but not for a lack of trying.
At least one parent of a recruit asked UT recruiting director Bethany Gunn via text message for a password to get into a lot for free. Gunn told her there were no spaces available.
It was an anticipated game that season. Georgia was ranked No. 3. And former UT greats Peyton Manning, Jamal Lewis, Travis Stephens and Carl Pickens came to the game.
But Neyland Stadium wasn’t full. The attendance was announced as 92,709, and there was certainly parking available at the end of the Vols’ 43-14 loss.
‘No cowbells in Neyland’
The next week, free parking was again arranged. Recruits and their guests merely had to say “no cowbells in Neyland” when they approached the lot.
It was a clever quip.
Mississippi State fans ring cowbells incessantly at their home games. It annoys opposing teams and especially their fans.
So Pruitt’s staffers were simply setting the ground rules for recruits coming to Neyland Stadium. Those artificial noise makers aren’t welcomed on Rocky Top.
Again, any UT fan could’ve shouted this phrase on that day without knowing its power to access free parking. UT beat Mississippi State 20-10.
‘Put out the blaze’
There were no text messages that relayed passwords to recruits for the South Carolina game. But one week later, the phrase was “put out the blaze.”
UAB’s nickname is the Blazers. It was simple and likely never said by UT fans that day.
It was the homecoming game, which could’ve produced a more creative phrase.
But by then, Pruitt’s staff was doing better work on the field. The Vols beat UAB 30-7 as part of a six-game winning streak to finish the season.
‘Vol Navy don’t need no anchor’
Forget that it included a double-negative – “don’t need no” – and tip your hat to this secret phrase that Pruitt’s staffers chose for the regular season finale.
It was for the Vanderbilt game.
Vandy’s motto is “anchor down.” And UT touts the Vol Navy, a collection of fans who dock their boats alongside Neyland Stadium on the banks of the Tennessee River on game days.
So the phrase combined elements of both teams' culture. Pruitt’s staff saved their best for last, albeit during an action that broke NCAA rules.
UT beat Vanderbilt 28-10 and defeated Indiana in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
Passwords stopped but violations exposed
The 2019 season was the best of Pruitt’s tenure. A year later, his staff ditched the passwords and instead gave physical parking passes to recruits and their guests on unofficial visits.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were attendance restrictions at games and a late start to the season. The Vols played their first home game against Missouri in October. And parking spaces were easier to come by.
In text messages, Gunn told a recruit’s mother that her parking pass was left at the front desk of the Crowne Plaza. A month later, a tip came to Chancellor Donde Plowman’s office about potential violations, and an investigation was opened.
At that point, free parking was the least of the worries for Pruitt’s staff.
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: Pruitt recruits used these passwords for free parking at Neyland Stadium
