Why former Vols head coach Butch Jones deserves to be defended for once
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones has deservedly received a lot of criticism over the years. Jones, who was the head coach at Tennessee from 2013 to 2017, had a disastrous ending to his time in Knoxville. In 2017, Jones led the Vols to only four wins before he was fired (UT finished the […]
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones has deservedly received a lot of criticism over the years.
Jones, who was the head coach at Tennessee from 2013 to 2017, had a disastrous ending to his time in Knoxville.
In 2017, Jones led the Vols to only four wins before he was fired (UT finished the season 4-8 after Jones' 4-6 start). His final season at Tennessee was filled with tense press conferences and rumors of internal conflict.
The Vols' 50-17 loss to Missouri (current UT head coach Josh Heupel was the offensive coordinator for the Tigers) was a low point for the program. Jones was fired after that loss.
Bleacher Report recently put together a list of the worst coaching hires of the last decade and I wasn't shocked to see Jones' name on the list.
From Bleacher Report:
Tennessee has struggled to achieve national relevancy for several years now. Butch Jones arrived at Tennessee in 2014 after compiling a 50-27 record at Central Michigan and Cincinnati. During his five years in Knoxville, Jones' tenure was mediocre at best. The Vols won three straight middle-tier bowls from 2014 to '16 and had nine-win seasons in 2015 and '16.
I understand the desire to list Jones among the worst hires of the last decade, but if we're being objective, he shouldn't be on that list.
Sure, Jones had a rough ending to his time at Tennessee, but his tenure also included a few positive moments.
The Vols beat Georgia twice under Jones. Tennessee also finally beat Florida under Jones.
UT also had back-to-back nine-win seasons and went 3-0 in bowl games during Jones' tenure.
Now, don't get me wrong — Jones deserved to be fired at Tennessee. And his teams in 2015 and 2016 vastly underperformed (those teams had College Football Playoff potential).
But Jones did a better job than his predecessor (Derek Dooley) and his successor (Jeremy Pruitt, who really deserved to be on this list).
There have been plenty of worse hires over the years than Jones at Tennessee. Jones just gets more attention because of his ridiculous sayings like "five-star hearts" and "champions of life". While those quotes were cringeworthy, it doesn't mean this hire was as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Featured image via Michael Patrick, MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL, Knoxville News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services
