Tennessee self-reports NCAA violations

Tennessee has self-reported seven NCAA secondary violations, including two in football.

One of the football violations involved a prospect making an unofficial visit before he had completed his first year at a junior college. The unnamed prospect visited several other schools, who were also unaware of his status.

In the other violation, a prospect making an unofficial visit attended an off-campus meal at Calhoun’s on the River intended only for official visitors, causing the staff to exceed the permissible number of off-campus contacts.

Swimming coach Tyler Fenwick, who texted recruits he had coached at his previous job at a private club in California, said he was unaware that he was committing a violation. Fenwick was banned from telephone contact with recruits for 14 days and UT was banned from contacting the recruits in question for 30 days.

Michael Beaumont,the current women’s basketball director of operations, handed out cash for meals during a trip to Arkansas, he used the per diem rate for Knoxville, not Fayetteville. Each player received $3 more than permissible for their lunch.

Men’s tennis coach Sam Winterbotham inadvertently paid for a breakfast that had been charged to the room of a visiting student-athlete. The amount paid was donated to a charity.

All the violations occurred since March.

Universities routinely self-report secondary violations to their conference offices and the NCAA. In most cases, the SEC and NCAA accept the university’s self-imposed punishments and take no further action. The university's compliance department posted the violations and subsequent punishments on its website. Coaches went through additional rules education, but UT said the mistake was inadvertent and no recruiting advantage was gained.