Sources: Tennessee parts ways with A.D. for football compliance

Tennessee has parted ways with veteran assistant athletics director for compliance, Adam Tate, multiple sources tell FootballScoop.

The move to separate from Tate, who has worked directly with Vols' football compliance matters since 2018, has been unfolding since last week, according to sources who spoke to FootballScoop on the condition of anonymity.

Tennessee football remains mired in its own internal and external investigation into the recruiting tactics of former head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

UT, after retaining the law firm Bond, Schoeneck and King specifically to secure the services of Michael Glazier and Kyle Skillman, has been working to expedite the investigation and learn the fate of its program as it pertains to penalties. Sources briefed on the matter told FootballScoop those penalties are expected to include scholarship losses, some recruiting restrictions and “I think at least a one-year bowl ban,” said a source.

Pruitt was fired by Tennessee officials in mid-January, when then-athletics director Phillip Fulmer also was eased out the door on Rocky Top. UT, led by new athletics director Danny White, hired Josh Heupel as the new face of its football program Jan. 27.

At the time of Pruitt's firing, UT Chancellor Dr. Donde Plowman said the Vols' own internal probe had found more than 50 “serious violations” by Pruitt, who was fired with cause. Plowman emphasized that day that Pruitt's at-cause dismissal meant that UT's coach of three seasons would not receive any buyout compensation.

“Your failure to promote and maintain an atmosphere of compliance and to monitor the activities of the coaches and staff members that report, directly or indirectly, to you has led to the current NCAA investigation and is bringing and will likely continue to bring the University into considerable public disrepute, embarrassment, contempt, scandal, and/or ridicule.”

Sources have reaffirmed to FootballScoop that Pruitt, who retained outside counsel immediately after his termination, is seeking to recoup a large portion of the more than $12 million forfeited from his dismissal.

Nine other UT staffers also were fired when officials made the move on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Tate, whose sister also had volunteered in football operations on Rocky Top, “works directly with the UT football program, acts as the athletic department's agent liaison and oversees the athletic department's elite student-athlete program” according to his bio on UTSports.com.

Tate's prior stops included Central Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers and, prior to coming to UT, the University of Georgia.

Per sources, William "Bill" Tampano, UT's Director of Compliance, is assuming a more hands-on role in the Vols' football compliance matters.