Tennessee Volunteers athletic director Danny White released a statement to his X account on Thursday morning regarding the recent reports that the NCAA is launching an investigation into the football program. The investigation centers around the recruitment of quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
The NCAA generally does not comment on infractions cases because there is a rule against it; however, that has not stopped them in the past from leaking information to the media as they did this week about us. Their actions made this ill-conceived investigation public and forced us to defend ourselves. It is clear that the NCAA staff does not understand what is happening at the campus level all over the country in the NIL space. After reviewing thousands of Tennessee coach and personnel phone records, NCAA investigators didn’t find a single NIL violation, so they moved the goalpost to fit a predetermined outcome. They are stating that the nebulous, contradictory NIL guidelines (written by the NCAA not the membership) don’t matter and applying the old booster bylaws to collectives. If that’s the case, then 100% of the major programs in college athletics have significant violations. This is obviously silly and not productive, as is blaming the membership whenever they are challenged. We need to be spending our time and energy on solutions to better organize college athletics in the NIL era – something that NCAA leadership failed to do back in 2021. Student-athletes, prospective student-athletes, coaches, and administrators across the country deserve better, and I refuse to allow the NCAA to irrationally use Tennessee as an example for their own agendas.” – Danny White on the NCAA investigation reports
