Josh Heupel just repeated a quote that Butch Jones made weeks before he was fired at Tennessee, but this time it’s actually true
Josh Heupel and Butch Jones have had very different experiences as the head football coach of the Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel dropped a quote last week at SEC Media Days that sounded eerily similar to something that Butch Jones said just weeks before he was fired by UT in 2017.
But don’t worry, Vols fans — this time the quote actually makes sense.
In 2017 — just two days before the Vols were blown out 41-0 by Georgia (some called it the football version of The Red Wedding) — Jones joined 104.5 The Zone’s 3HL and claimed that the previous couple of seasons had been some of the best seasons in the last 20 years of Tennessee football.
At the time, the last 20 years of Tennessee football included an 11-2 season with Peyton Manning, an undefeated season that ended with a national championship, a season where the Vols were a game away from another national championship appearance (that 2001 loss to LSU still haunts UT fans), and a season in 2004 in which the Volunteers beat Georgia, Florida, and Alabama in the same season. The Vols also won the SEC East in 2007.
Heupel dropped essentially the same quote during his appearance on the main stage in Tampa, but at least this time it was true.
“Looking back at the last five years over this stretch in Tennessee football, it’s been the winningest five-year stretch in over two decades on Rocky Top,” said Heupel.
Heupel is right that it’s the winningest five-year stretch in two decades (though it’s exactly two decades, dating back to 2001). The Vols have won 45 games over the last five seasons, barely eclipsing the 44 games that Tennessee won from 2001 to 2005.
But even if you didn’t fact-check Heupel’s statement, you would know his claim is at least in the neighborhood of being true.
Jones’ statement wasn’t even in the same zip code.
Heupel’s time on Rocky Top hasn’t been completely smooth — there have been some painful losses and some less-than-ideal off-the-field sagas — but looking back at where the program was less than 10 years ago (including the Jeremy Pruitt era) is a reminder of what an incredible job he and his staff have done since getting hired in early 2021.