Butch Jones leaves no doubt how he feels about Knoxville and Tennessee nearly 10 years after he was fired
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones reflected this week on his time at Rocky Top and made it clear how he feels about Knoxville.
Butch Jones spent nearly five seasons as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols.
There was some bad, there was some good, and there was some misunderstood (I think I just dropped a bar there).
2015 and 2016 had some missed opportunities, but those years also gave Vols fans a win over Florida and two memorable wins over Georgia (including the Hail Mary in Athens).
Overall, Jones fared better than his predecessor — Derek Dooley — and his successor — Jeremy Pruitt.
Still, Jones’ tenure ended on a very sour note in 2017 as he was basically run out of town. So it would be understandable if he looks back on his time in Knoxville through a negative lens.
But that’s not the case at all.
Butch Jones reflects on his time at Tennessee
Jones appeared on On3’s Andy & Ari this week and had nothing but positive things to say about Knoxville and Tennessee.
“Tennessee, it’s an extremely special place,” said Jones. “It’s got a great, passionate fan base. My kids still consider Knoxville home. Alex, who played for me at Tennessee, and also was a student coach for us at Alabama, he’s our tight ends coach here (at Arkansas State). He’s married and his wife is from Farragut, TN. My middle son, Adam, just moved back to Knoxville. So Knoxville is kind of embedded in who we are”
“I still remember going to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville like it was yesterday,” continued Jones. “And it was our first bowl appearance in a number of years, and we played the University of Iowa and had a convincing win. And I’ll never forget the president of the Gator Bowl coming in the locker room afterwards, and said, ‘Hey coach, you guys did it, man, you broke all kinds of bowl records.’ I’m like, ‘Really, what records did we break?’ He goes, ‘First of all, your fan attendance was the most we’ve ever had, and also your fans ate us out of all the hot dogs and drinks.’ We laughed about that. That’s Tennessee. I love everything about Tennessee, and what they stand for.”
“And again, that’ll always be a part of who we are. You look at the Battle of Bristol and breaking the fan attendance record. But also, there’s things I’m not going to hide behind. There’s a lot of things that I wish we could have done better. When you look back, I’m extremely disappointed for our players and for our fans that we weren’t able to win an SEC championship or a national championship. That’s always the goal when you’re the head football coach at the University of Tennessee, and we had a great opportunity. I thought we put ourselves in that position, particularly in 2016 and we weren’t able to do it… There’s a lot to take away from that Tennessee experience, and it’ll always be a part of who we are. It’ll always be a part of my family, and I’m indebted for the opportunity, and appreciative to say that I was a head football coach at Tennessee.”
Jones is entering his sixth season as the head coach at Arkansas State. The Red Wolves have won two straight bowl games, including a win in the Xbox Bowl last season.