How did Tennessee break NCAA rules by paying recruits, players? Start with Brian Niedermeyer

Former Tennessee football assistant coach Brian Niedermeyer paid recruits and players from large ATM cash withdrawals and money stashed in his desk drawer, investigators found. Documents obtained by Knox News through an open records request show a pattern of how UT coaches and recruiting staff members funded activities that violated numerous NCAA rules. Niedermeyer, the prized recruiter of Jeremy Pruitt’s coaching staff, made large withdrawals surrounding the dates of impermissible recruiting visits. And a former UT player told investigators that Niedermeyer gave him permission to take cash from the desk in his office. The player didn’t know the source of the money. Niedermeyer got a five-year show-cause penalty for his part in the violations, according to documents obtained through an open records request, and Pruitt received a six-year show-cause. The length of Pruitt's penalty was revealed Friday when the NCAA announced its verdict in Tennessee's yearslong recruiting scandal. A show-cause penalty means a university cannot hire a coach or recruiter without being subjected to penalties during the length of the ban, unless given NCAA approval. But the 31-year-old Niedermeyer said he used that money to live the “high-life of a single coach” while avoiding the disapproval of his father because, despite earning $355,000 per year as a college football assistant coach, he was still on his parents’ banking account. Records show much of the money in the high-profile recruiting scandal led back to Niedermeyer. More evidence pointing to Brian Niedermeyer than booster The NCAA found that almost $60,000 of cash or gifts were provided to UT recruits, players and their families by Pruitt, his wife and numerous coaches and recruiting staff. An unidentified booster was alleged to have taken part in one violation by paying roundtrip airfare for a recruit on an impermissible visit to UT’s campus. That booster’s name is redacted from the NCAA and UT reports. But neither a booster nor other potential funding sources are mentioned in the reports. However, Niedermeyer’s cash flow was routinely documented in the investigation. Bank records show his large ATM withdrawals to fund recruiting visits, and players said he paid them directly. Niedermeyer got raise from Tennessee, then paid recruits In 2019, UT gave Niedermeyer a contract extension and raise, which increased his pay from $205,000 to $355,000 annually, after he was named the 247Sports national recruiter of the year. Before that, he was the lowest-paid assistant on Pruitt’s staff. Investigators found Niedermeyer routinely made large cash withdrawals from ATMs right before and during recruiting visits in the COVID recruiting dead period of 2020. They determined that money was used in part to pay for transportation, restaurant meals, hotels stays, nail salon treatments, entertainment and other accommodations for recruits on impermissible visits to Knoxville. Recruiting staff members usually paid for hotels in cash before recruits arrived. And they often paid restaurant tabs in cash after the meal. Niedermeyer facilitated many of those payments, investigators found through text messages and interviews with players and recruiting staff. Here’s how much cash Niedermeyer got from ATM From July 22-24, Niedermeyer withdrew $1,700. On Aug. 14, he withdrew $1400. From Aug. 18-21, he withdrew $4,000. During the week of Sept. 25-30, he withdrew $2,800. On Nov. 13, he withdrew $800. Those withdrawals aligned with impermissible recruiting visits and the testimony of players and recruiting staff, who said Niedermeyer funded some expenses. In his response to the allegation, Niedermeyer's lawyer argued that investigators ignored the fact that he didn't withdrawal cash before every recruiting weekend. During another recruiting weekend on Oct. 6-8, Niedermeyer withdrew $4,000. He told investigators that he gave money to his girlfriend for shopping and winery visits during a trip to Georgia for UT’s game against the Bulldogs. "My girlfriend spends a lot, a lotta money," Niedermeyer told investigators. "My parents don't really like her. It's an issue. She has expensive tastes in different things. I try and keep that off my bank records. "I mean I always carry a lotta cash and deal with that stuff in terms of goin' to the bars and other places that, you know, I'd rather not talk about that serve alcohol." In November 2022, Niedermeyer responded to the NCAA Notice of Allegations with an explanation of where he spent the money from those large ATM withdrawals. “Although he was still on his parents’ banking account – which meant his accountant father could see every non-cash transaction he made – Niedermeyer lived the high-life of a single coach,” Niedermeyer’s lawyer wrote in the response. “He spent too much money on his girlfriend, he enjoyed the nightlife of Knoxville, and his [sic] was gracious in his gifts and tips. To avoid his father’s disapproval, he funded that lifestyle through ATM withdrawals.” That had been Niedermeyer's answer from the beginning. UT players, recruiting staff, recruits and their parents said Niedermeyer gave them money or facilitated payment for impermissible recruiting visits. Text messages and phone records also support that he was involved, investigators determined. But when Niedermeyer was confronted by investigators in January 2021, he said he had to keep his lifestyle from his father. "I deal with a lotta cash because (my father) is privy to my bank records, um, at all times. It's embarrassing when I'm 30," Niedermeyer said. "But the old man watches every day what I do. ... That's why I try and keep things that he disapproves off my bank records." Niedermeyer said generosity, accident led to his downfall Niedermeyer said he also gave large cash gifts to lesser-paid recruiting staffers for their birthday, Christmas and spring break trips rather than paying expenses for recruiting visits. “It was this generosity, and closeness to the recruiting office, that ultimately led to (Niedermeyer’s) downfall,” his response said. As for other cash payments alleged by recruits, Niedermeyer said they must've been accidental. For example, a high school junior said that in January 2019, Niedermeyer gave him $750 cash during a recruiting visit to his school. Niedermeyer said he believed the package that he gave the recruit contained printed information about the University of Tennessee, not cash. Former player said Niedermeyer had a cash drawer UT hired Bond, Schoeneck and King, a law firm specializing in NCAA infractions cases, to lead its internal investigation. The BSK investigators found numerous allegations that they turned over to the NCAA enforcement staff. A few of them were not included in the NCAA Notice of Allegations because of lack of corroboration. Among those unsubstantiated allegations was a former UT player’s claim that Niedermeyer gave players money from a stash of cash in the desk drawer in his coaching office. The player transferred to another school, but his name was redacted from the report. On March 2, 2021, in his first interview with investigators, the player denied receiving money from Niedermeyer and other coaches. But on June 3, 2021, after the NCAA granted him immunity, he told investigators that he received more than $10,000 in cash payments from as many as seven UT coaches and staff members during his recruitment and playing career with the Vols. The player told investigators that Niedermeyer kept a significant amount of cash in his desk drawer to pay select players, a fact he said was well known on the team. The player recalled one instance in summer or fall of 2020 when he and another player took $200 cash from Niedermeyer’s drawer with Niedermeyer’s permission to spend at a Japanese steakhouse. He said that was a common practice for that player, whose name was also redacted from the report. Niedermeyer was not interviewed about the player’s claim because he had already been fired for cause. His only interview with investigators was on Jan. 13, 2021, months before this allegation was made. Text messages point to Niedermeyer’s ‘stash’ But the claim that Niedermeyer had a cash drawer to pay recruits and players is consistent with what other players said in substantiated allegations from the time. For example, a player told investigators that Niedermeyer gave him $300 in a small manila envelope in his office to entertain recruits. And a text message exchange in October 2020 suggested that Niedermeyer had access to extra money for recruiting visits, according to the report. “If funds are low is there a reservoir,” recruiting director Bethany Gunn asked an unidentified person. After Gunn told the person that she had only $387 remaining, she sent a text message to assistant director of player personnel J.T. Hill. “Did Niedermeyer ever mention an extra funds stash,” she asked. Hill did not respond. Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. Twitter @AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.