Tennessee adds NCAA penalties related to Lane Kiffin era

The Lane Kiffin era seems like forever ago in Knoxville, but Tennessee is still dealing with the last pieces of the fallout.

Tennessee and the NCAA announced additional penalties Friday stemming from violations committed by former assistant Willie Mack Garza, who illegally funded a prospect's unofficial visit during the 2009 season and misled NCAA enforcement when questioned about it.

The penalties aren't severe. Tennessee's probation will be extended by two years, the number of official visits for the 2012-13 academic year will be reduced from 51 to 47 and there will be a reduction in evaluation days for the coaches. In addition, Tennessee can't provide free tickets to recruits for its first two Southeastern Conference games next season.

Tennessee met with the NCAA Committee on Infractions at a penalty hearing Tuesday.

"We will finally close the chapter on the prior actions of members of a previous football coaching staff," athletics director Dave Hart said in a news release. "We have significantly strengthened our culture of compliance at Tennessee and will continue to do so. We disagree with additional penalties for a matter we believed should have been part of the previous case. We will now move forward."

Another interesting element of the ruling is that the violations by Garza involved payments to Will Lyles, who is also a key figure in the pending NCAA infractions case against No. 1-ranked Oregon. The NCAA has not come out with its ruling on that case, in which coach Chip Kelly is alleged to have authorized payments to Lyles for scouting materials that didn't exist.

Tennessee is dealing with more significant football turmoil at the moment, with speculation swirling that coach Derek Dooley could be fired after this season. The Vols are 4-6, including 0-6 in the SEC, heading into Saturday's game at Vanderbilt. Dooley has won four SEC games in three seasons.