Former Alabama defensive coordinator hired at Alabama high school

By: WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Juliet Brown

Former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt found a new job, but it’s not one many fans would guess. According to DeKalb County Board of Education, Pruitt works as a physical education teacher at Plainview High School in Rainsville.

A unanimous vote during a board meeting on Thursday approved Pruitt’s employment. He will also serve as the junior high boys basketball coach.

Pruitt served as the Crimson Tide defensive coordinator from 2016-2017 before becoming the head football coach at Tennessee from 2018-2020. His time in Knoxville came to an abrupt end after the NCAA issued a six-year show-cause penalty for his involvement in recruitment infractions.

The show-cause penalty barred universities from hiring him without NCAA approval for the length of the ban.  If he was hired by a university, he would have to serve a suspension for the first year of his employment. Pruitt’s penalty was issued on July 14, 2023 and will expire July 14, 2029.

Pruitt’s wife, Casey, also was implicated by the NCAA after mothers of former Volunteer players claimed she gave them money for car and rent payments, according to Knox News. Because she didn’t work in college athletics at the time, the NCAA couldn’t impose penalties.

Casey will join her husband as Plainview’s Secondary ELA Intervention teacher. The two  have ties to the high school as Jeremy’s father, Dale, is the high school’s head football coach.