Tennessee coaches reportedly gave recruits McDonald's bags filled with cash

An ongoing internal investigation of the University of Tennessee has already resulted in the firing of head coach Jeremy Pruitt and several members of his coaching staff. And details of Tennessee's corruption have begun to emerge, with one source telling Dan Patrick that potential recruits would receive McDonald's bags from assistant coaches that were stuffed with cash instead of a Big Mac and fries.

"You literally had bag men," Patrick said. "They put the cash in McDonald's bags and handed it to the recruits. My source said they were so in your face with this — they weren't even trying to hide it."

College football programs have a long history of trying to pay their players or bribe potential players without getting caught by the NCAA, but the idea of coaches handing players McDonald's bags filled with money has to be among the most ridiculous and hilarious violations, assuming the source's story turns out to be accurate.

University chancellor Donde Plowman said that he and athletic director Phillip Fullmer had already found "a significant number of serious NCAA rules violations" and they are reportedly expecting to face severe punishment from the NCAA, which joined the investigation back in December. Plowman has urged patience as the school attempts to uncover all wrongdoing that occurred.

"At every step, we’ve tried to do this the right way," Plowman said. "While we’re disappointed in what we found, we’re not going to hide it from anyone. Eventually, this will all come out when this investigation is over."