A “reply all” email by a Tennessee swim coach, another coach’s two-word greeting to a recruit and a Lady Vols travel miscue broke NCAA rules.
A UT student worker was also terminated from his job on the sports broadcast team because he bet on a Vols football game.
Those were among six minor NCAA violations that UT athletics reported in the second half of 2025, according to a document obtained by Knox News through a public records request.
They were all Level III infractions, defined by the NCAA as minor breaches of conduct. They are common and routinely reported by athletic departments at every school. They almost always result in low-level penalties, as was the case with these instances at UT.
UT’s violations also provide a glimpse into the convoluted nature of the NCAA rulebook. Here’s a breakdown.
Lady Vols broke rule by swapping coaches on the road
By NCAA rule, no more than four women’s basketball coaches can evaluate recruits off campus during an evaluation period. And coaches are not allowed to swap out from day to day.
During two weekends last July, Kim Caldwell’s staff put five coaches on the road total, although never more than four at a time. At the end of a recruiting day, one coach would return to Knoxville, and a different coach would go on the road to replace them.
It was a violation because the replacement coach counted as as fifth recruiter during that period.
According to the NCAA report, the infraction was discovered by an inquiry to the SEC office, presumably from a competing school. UT placed some of the responsibility on its compliance staff for misadvising Caldwell’s coaches about the NCAA’s intricate recruiting guidelines.
As a self-imposed penalty, UT reduced its off-campus recruiters to three coaches for five days during the fall evaluation period. The NCAA also docked the Lady Vols five recruiting days by a single staff member in 2025-26.
Coach said two words to recruit, and that was too many
In June, a cross-country assistant coach attended the New Balance National Championships in Philadelphia. They were walking along the public path surrounding the track when two high school runners approached from the opposite direction.
One was a 2026 recruit who had previously visited UT. The other was a 2027 recruit who could not yet have in-person contact with a college coach, per NCAA rule.
The UT coach said, “Great job!” to the 2027 recruit, which violated NCAA rules. They later connected via phone call, which was allowed.
UT self-imposed penalties. UT cross-country coaches were not permitted to contact the 2027 recruit for two weeks, and the two-word interaction counted as an in-person recruiting contact. Coaches also underwent additional training on NCAA rules.
The SEC also banned the coach from all recruiting activities for 14 days.
Cross-country committed another infraction by requiring athletes to participate in a 45-minute workout following a race. The team was still under NCAA-mandated hours of athletic activity for that week, but mandatory workouts are not allowed after a competition.
The team was docked 90 minutes of practice time as a penalty.
Swim coach shouldn’t have sent ‘reply all’ email
Last summer, a recruit sent an email to the UT swim coaching staff before contact was allowed. It would only be a violation if a coach replied, which they inadvertently did.
An assistant coach hit “reply all,” when they intended to only email the other staff members. That counted as impermissible contact with the recruit.
UT self-imposed a two-week ban on recruiting that prospect after contact was allowed.
Violation happened because two recruits had the same name
A recruit in an unnamed sport visited campus without being approved through the NCAA eligibility clearinghouse, but the mix-up was due to a coincidence and clerical error.
A UT compliance director approved a recruit who had the same first and last names as the intended recruit. When the correct recruit arrived on campus, they were not registered because they didn’t have an NCAA eligibility clearinghouse account.
The staffer received additional training to prevent repeating the same mistake.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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