Danny White Issues a Statement on NCAA Allegations

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 quarterbackNico Iamaleava.

“The NCAA normally does not comment on infractions cases because there is a regulation prohibiting it;

nevertheless, in the past, they have leaked material to the media, as they did this week regarding us. Their actions

exposed this ill-conceived probe and compelled us to defend ourselves. The NCAA staff clearly does not comprehend

what is going on at the university level around the country in the NIL space. After scrutinizing thousands of

Tennessee coach and personnel phone records, NCAA investigators found no NIL violations, so they changed the

goalposts to meet a planned outcome.

They argue that the ambiguous, inconsistent NIL guidelines (issued by the NCAA, not the membership) are

irrelevant and apply the old booster bylaws to collectives. If this is the case, then every major college athletics

program has significant violations. This is obviously ridiculous and counterproductive, as is blaming the

membership anytime they are questioned. We need to focus our time and efforts on how to properly manage college

athletics in the NIL era, which NCAA leadership failed to do in 2021.

Student-athletes, potential student-athletes, coaches, and administrators around the country deserve better, and I

refuse to let the NCAA use Tennessee as an example to further their own objectives.” – Danny White discusses the

NCAA inquiry reports