Butch Jones is still trying to capitalize off his stint as Nick Saban's 'special assistant' and it's very cringe
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones, who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State, is one of those people who loves to "name drop" to make himself appear more important/popular than he really is. When Jones was the head coach at Tennessee, he would often bring up his friendship with Miami Heat coach […]
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones, who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State, is one of those people who loves to "name drop" to make himself appear more important/popular than he really is.
When Jones was the head coach at Tennessee, he would often bring up his friendship with Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. To this day, Jones still mentions — every chance he gets — how he coached JJ Watt, Antonio Brown, and Travis Kelce in college (though he conveniently leaves out that he tried to move Watt to the offensive side of the ball, which precluded Watt's transfer to Wisconsin).
So it should come as no surprise that Jones is still trying to capitalize off his three-year stint as an off-field assistant/special assistant at Alabama.
(After Jones was fired for delivering the worst season in the history of Tennessee football, he took a job at Alabama that paid him around $30k a year — which forced Tennessee to pay nearly his entire buyout since very little of it was mitigated. Jones didn't land a "real" job until after Tennessee finished paying his $8 million buyout.)
After Jones' Red Wolves lost their bowl game to Northern Illinois, the former Tennessee head coach made the trip out to California to join Alabama for their Rose Bowl practices.
From AL.com: “The exciting thing is it isn’t that far to Tuscaloosa,” Jones said of the game, which was played in Montgomery. “Half the (Alabama) staff is coming to the game in support. Then, we’ll show the same support when they play in the Rose Bowl.”
The image of Jones, who is a Michigan native (the Tide play the sign-stealing Michigan Wolverines in the Rose Bowl), acting like he's some key part of the Nick Saban fraternity of coaches isn't just cringe, it's downright delusional. There are coaches like Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Jeremy Pruitt, Billy Napier, Will Muschamp, Lane Kiffin, and even Derek Dooley who played key roles on various coaching staffs under Saban. And then there's Jones….who Saban was often dismissive of (Saban once called Jones an intern). Those other guys played a key part in game planning, game-day coaching, development, recruiting, etc. Jones printed scouting reports.
Jones badly wants a seat at the big boys table and he's willing to name drop everyone he's ever been in a room with to get there. But no matter how hard he tries, he'll still be viewed as a thin-skinned opportunist with very little self-awareness. And his trip to the Rose Bowl, instead of staying back in Arkansas and putting in work to get the offseason started, shows that once again, he's looking ahead to his next con instead of focusing on the job he already has.
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