Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti went to bat for the Vols vs. the NCAA

#26
#26
unfrozencvmanvol said:
The fine's pretty stiff, but other than that I agree we got off pretty easily all things considered. I think with the fine they just wanted to make sure that the math did not work out in our favor on firing Pruitt for cause and avoiding his buyout, as they probably thought that would send the wrong message to AD's and President's.
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That's what I think too, They wanted a financial penalty to be incurred, and knew there wouldn't be a buyout.
 
#29
#29
unfrozencvmanvol said:
The fine's pretty stiff, but other than that I agree we got off pretty easily all things considered. I think with the fine they just wanted to make sure that the math did not work out in our favor on firing Pruitt for cause and avoiding his buyout, as they probably thought that would send the wrong message to AD's and President's.
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Maybe I’m misunderstanding your logic. If so, tell me. Looks to me like we saved at least $4.5 million in the deal. If we had bought him out at the time, that would have cost $12.5 to $13 million. We saved $4.5 million by firing him with cause and then serving his head on a pike to the NCAA. Add to that, a buyout would not have stopped the NCAA from leveling more punishment or fines on top of the buyout. Sad as it is, the math on the $8 million fine works in our favor versus a buyout.
 
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#30
#30
Delmar said:
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your logic. If so, tell me. Looks to me like we saved at least $4.5 million in the deal. If we had bought him out at the time, that would have cost $12.5 to $13 million. We saved $4.5 million by firing him with cause and then serving his head on a pike to the NCAA. Add to that, a buyout would not have stopped the NCAA from leveling more punishment or fines on top of the buyout. Sad as it is, the math on the $8 million fine works in our favor versus a buyout.
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I bet the legal fees of the investigation and defending us before the NCAA, etc. were several million dollars. We didn't come out much ahead, if any at all.
 
#32
#32
unfrozencvmanvol said:
I bet the legal fees of the investigation and defending us before the NCAA, etc. were several million dollars. We didn't come out much ahead, if any at all.
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Great point and you sir are close! The actual number is $1,535,485.74 . Here is a link that shows month by month billing if you are interested. The math shows we came out about 2 1/2 million dollars ahead, but at least there is no bowl ban and it's over. Go Vols!

Tennessee spent big bucks on lawyers to combat Jeremy Pruitt, NCAA
 
#34
#34
unfrozencvmanvol said:
I bet the legal fees of the investigation and defending us before the NCAA, etc. were several million dollars. We didn't come out much ahead, if any at all.
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Even if we had bought him out, that wouldn’t have precluded the NCAA from investigating. We would have had to pay those legal fees on top of the buyout too. And make no mistake, what Pruitt and his Keystone Cops did was so stupid that it was going to get out sooner or later and we would have had to defend ourselves. As bad as the fine is, I believe we saved money and it fit the narrative that we were committed to weeding out the vermin. And the NCAA bought it. Water under the bridge now. It’s over and I’m happy.
 
#35
#35
hog88 said:
The recruiting restrictions and loss of scholarships are BS. No university should ever cooperate with the NCAA again after the penalty they handed us.
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We already self imposed a reduction of a bunch of scholarships in the last two years that count against the total and Heupel didn’t miss a beat. I’m not concerned about 10 over the next five years. Most folks that I have seen are giving us credit for handling it perfectly considering the nature of the violations. It could have been a lot worse. Anyone can believe what they like. I’m happy it’s over and that we got off as lightly as we did. Onward and upward.
 
#36
#36
Tman44 said:
Great point and you sir are close! The actual number is $1,535,485.74 . Here is a link that shows month by month billing if you are interested. The math shows we came out about 2 1/2 million dollars ahead, but at least there is no bowl ban and it's over. Go Vols!

Tennessee spent big bucks on lawyers to combat Jeremy Pruitt, NCAA
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Yep, and that figure still doesn't include the last 4 months so I wouldn't be surprised if they got closer to 2 mil. Either way I'd have lost on the Price is Right.
 
#37
#37
Delmar said:
Even if we had bought him out, that wouldn’t have precluded the NCAA from investigating. We would have had to pay those legal fees on top of the buyout too. And make no mistake, what Pruitt and his Keystone Cops did was so stupid that it was going to get out sooner or later and we would have had to defend ourselves. As bad as the fine is, I believe we saved money and it fit the narrative that we were committed to weeding out the vermin. And the NCAA bought it. Water under the bridge now. It’s over and I’m happy.
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I'm not sure you and I are meeting minds here, I'm not saying I wish we'd have bought him out. I'm saying I think the motivation for the NCAA to impose such a heavy fine was to try and defeat/diminish the financial advantage which inured to us in firing him with cause.
 
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#38
#38
savannahfan said:
First - the Tn AG is not an elected office.
Second - It is his place to enforce Tn. law against any person or origination.
Third - How does the AG gain dollars?
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Technical answer, but not realistic in TN or any other state in the USA.
He would never be appointed if he was not in-line politically with the TN Supreme Court justices, who appoint him, and fully prepared to take political stance into court actions.

I would say he is definitely a politician, and an agent of the state supreme court's ideologies , regardless of his stated role as keeper of TN's constitution and laws; Often the most powerful person in TN.

State AGs can effect more political change than any legislature. They can influence national law and policy if they are shrewd and effective in the state and federal courts.
And an AG's legal agenda can be a big motivator for party fundraising based on specific issues, and is also 100% political in the issues they push and how they interpret the TN Code Annotated, based on the present political stances of their political party.

It is a bit of a blessing our AG is appointed, not elected. It makes it far more likely TN's AG is a capable petitioner to the courts. I watch other states with their elected AGs, and they are often not very professionally capable. They just do politics 100% of the time and look like amateurs. They have to have assistants to do the heavy lifting. TN's appointment by Supreme Court Justices gives our AG far more gravitas than AGs almost anywhere else. I cannot think of an inept TN AG, but I see many around the country vying for political attention, but not being effective.

Has any AG stood up to the NCAA before? I wonder if the NCAA would have a leg to stand on if the state government simply said, "No" and laid out the state laws and reasons for its discipline to have zero standing within the boundaries of TN. My hat is also off to our legislators that were proactive on NIL and made the moves to enable our AG to make this stand. As an independent, I am often baffled by state rep's actions, but I can 100% get behind this.

It has been great to see a strong coordinated front for UT football.
 
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#39
#39
SpookyAction said:
Technical answer, but not realistic in TN or any other state in the USA.
He would never be appointed if he was not in-line politically with the TN Supreme Court justices, who appoint him, and fully prepared to take political stance into court actions.

I would say he is definitely a politician, and an agent of the state supreme court's ideologies , regardless of his stated role as keeper of TN's constitution and laws; Often the most powerful person in TN.

State AGs can effect more political change than any legislature. They can influence national law and policy if they are shrewd and effective in the state and federal courts.
And an AG's legal agenda can be a big motivator for party fundraising based on specific issues, and is also 100% political in the issues they push and how they interpret the TN Code Annotated, based on the present political stances of their political party.

It is a bit of a blessing our AG is appointed, not elected. It makes it far more likely TN's AG is a capable petitioner to the courts. I watch other states with their elected AGs, and they are often not very professionally capable. They just do politics 100% of the time and look like amateurs. They have to have assistants to do the heavy lifting. TN's appointment by Supreme Court Justices gives our AG far more gravitas than AGs almost anywhere else. I cannot think of an inept TN AG, but I see many around the country vying for political attention, but not being effective.

Has any AG stood up to the NCAA before? I wonder if the NCAA would have a leg to stand on if the state government simply said, "No" and laid out the state laws and reasons for its discipline to have zero standing within the boundaries of TN. My hat is also off to our legislators that were proactive on NIL and made the moves to enable our AG to make this stand. As an independent, I am often baffled by state rep's actions, but I can 100% get behind this.

It has been great to see a strong coordinated front for UT football.
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What you say is true. But not in the accepted theater of politics as most people understand it. The politics within the court and judge system is their own little big world. Yes, some do move on the the regular political world, but not too many.
 
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#40
#40
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#41
#41
VolBallGuy said:
So, by our attorney general’s own admission,Tennessee now has a state law in force specifically to prevent the NCAA from giving us a bowl ban. That’s kind of cool and scary at the same time to be honest.
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So how could they prosecute?
 
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