Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel is now listed as a defendant in Tennessee’s lawsuit against the NCAA

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was listed as a defendant in the state of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s lawsuit against the NCAA. Heupel joins Tennessee athletic director Danny White, offensive lineman Jackson Lampley, and Spyre Sports co-founder James Clawson as defendants.

In a declaration submitted to the courts on Friday, Heupel clarified the landscape of NIL in today’s world of college football. He cited confusion among everyone in the process and laid out the difficulties of coaching college football with the current structure.

NCAA rules are vague and confusing. They frequently change and they sometimes conflict with NCAA’s prior guidance. Because of the NIL-recruiting ban the information recruits have about NIL opportunities associated with a given school is incomplete and not always reliable. Athletes want to know about and understand their opportunities, but like my fellow coaches at UT I feel I have to avoid discussing NIL opportunities in any way, even at a high level, or assisting athletes in navigating this complicated environment.”

The NCAA is investigating the University of Tennessee and its recruitment of starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

 

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REPORT: Tennessee Under Investigation Yet Again by the NCAA

 

The Tennessee Volunteers could be facing more penalties as the NCAA has opened a new investigation, this time regarding Name, Image, and Likeness.

The Tennessee Volunteer football program is not a year removed from their latest penalties from the NCAA due to infractions on the recruiting trail, having received penalties from over 200 violations.

Now, according to reports from SI.com’s Pat Forde, the Volunteers could be facing more penalties as the NCAA has opened a new investigation, this time regarding Name, Image, and Likeness.

In the reporting done by Forde, it’s revealed that the NCAA declined a request for comment on the situation and the violations being alleged are still extremely vague apart from the link to NIL. Tennessee’s most noteworthy NIL deal to date happens to be with their current starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, a former five-star quarterback who allegedly signed a deal that could pay him up to $8m over his time period at Tennessee.

This is now the third investigation into NIL recruiting the NCAA has opened since the start of the year, first Florida State, then Florida, and now Tennessee according to these reports.

The NCAA also declined comment in a statement to SI. “With rare exceptions, the NCAA does not comment on current, pending or potential investigations due to confidentiality rules put in place by member schools,” associate director of communications Meghan Durham Wright said. A source familiar with the inquiry tells SI that Tennessee does not believe it has committed any violations in the NIL realm. The source cited NCAA guidance in that evolving area as “vague and contradictory.” – Pat Forde on the investigation into Tennessee.