Jeremy Pruitt Interviewed For Seven Hours As Part Of Tennessee Investigation

Former Tennessee head football coach Jeremy Pruitt has probably gone through a few long, tough interviews in his lifetime. But if I had to guess, the seven-hour interview he faced on Thursday probably takes the cake.

There wasn't even a job waiting on the other side of that interview.

Instead, it's an ongoing investigation into a recruiting scandal that allegedly occurred on Pruitt's watch. The results of this investigation could have a lasting impact on both Pruitt and the University of Tennessee.

According to Blake Toppmeyer with Knox News, lawyers from Bond, Schoneck & King were among those interviewing the former college head coach. They were brought in by Tennessee to conduct the investigation, and the NCAA also had members of its enforcement staff sitting in as well.

In addition to Pruitt, other now former coaches were interviewed as well, including the inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer and outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton. Those interviews lasted approximately 8.5 hours combined, according to Toppmeyer.

Now it's a matter of determining what all this will mean for the Vols -- and for Pruitt.

The investigation is still ongoing, but the university believes Pruitt and some of his staff members allowed multiple Level I and Level II NCAA violations to occur. That lack of institutional control is why those coaches were fired with cause a few months ago.

As of now, the University of Tennessee has not imposed any penalties on the football program, but they could do so soon. Check out more information about this story on Knox News, as it's getting more and more interesting the further along we go.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.