Butch Jones finally explains why he said ‘Champions of Life’ and his explanation is actually something that all Vols fans can appreciate
Former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones addressed one of the most infamous moments of Vols head coach tenure — the Championship of Life comment.
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones’ most infamous moment during his time on Rocky Top was undoubtedly his “championship of life” comment that he made in 2016 after a couple of disappointing late season losses.
“They’ve won the biggest championship — that’s the championship of life,” said Jones in November 2016 while discussing Tennessee’s seniors.
Jones appeared on On3’s Andy & Ari this week and he explained why he made that comment.
And I’ll say as someone who has given Jones a hard time for the last 10 years, I found that his explanation gave me a different view of the infamous comment.
“The other thing [that took on a life of its own] was ‘Champions of Life’, and that was actually the Big 12 slogan for their conference at that particular time,” said Jones. “I was doing it to protect our players. We were heading into Senior Day, and the Josh Dobbs of the world and all of those individuals that had really helped lay the foundation for future success, and the success that we had, and it was just a way of saying that I respect them and respect them for what they did. And they were great people… there’s a lot to take away from that Tennessee experience, and it’ll always be a part of who I am.”
When you look at it that way, it’s hard not to respect why Jones said it — especially after seeing the photo of him with many of those players at Dobbs’ wedding earlier this offseason.
Jones got clowned a lot for that comment — I contributed plenty to it — but I’m happy to say I was on the wrong side of that after hearing his meaningful explanation.