Tennessee receives NCAA report

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The University of Tennessee has received notification from the NCAA regarding alleged rules violations by the school's men's basketball and football programs.

Tennessee has been under investigation since April 2009 for alleged infractions including improper recruiting contacts and "failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance."

"We take these allegations seriously and most items noted in this document have already been reportedly broadly," Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday.

Tennessee has until May 21 to submit a response to the NCAA Committee on Infractions and will likely be called to appear before the panel in June.

The school's investigation of the basketball program led to the Southeastern Conference suspending Coach Bruce Pearl for the first eight conference games this season. The school also limited his recruiting for a year and reduced his salary 25 percent -- $500,000 -- for the current academic year.

Pearl and other basketball staff allegedly made impermissible telephone calls to recruits. The NCAA said Pearl also failed to monitor assistant coaches to make sure they were operating within NCAA regulations.

The alleged football violations occurred while Lane Kiffin was coach. He left Tennessee after one season and is now the coach at Southern California. It is alleged Kiffin didn't monitor assistant coaches who made impermissible phone contact to recruits.