GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 21: Coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers directs play against the Florida Gators September 21, 2013 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators won 31 - 17. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Report: Tennessee would have fired Butch Jones last year if not for one thing

This doesn't sound promising.

Well this would have shaken things up last year.

According to a recent report by Travis Haney of 247Sports, one SEC coach believes that Tennessee's Butch Jones would have been fired last season if it weren't for the then on-going search for a new athletic director.

From 247:

"I think he's been benefitted from that (AD change)," one SEC assistant told us. "If they had a stable AD, I bet he's gone. I know a lot of coaches who feel like they're kind of taking it easy on him. It's been there for the taking for them. They never took it."

Yikes!

Tennessee has since hired John Currie as their new athletic director, and Jones is likely on the hot seat with a new boss. Tennessee is 30-21 under Jones with back-to-back 9-4 seasons, which is fine in a vacuum. However, expectations have been high at Tennessee and it looks like the program feels like Jones may not be the man to return the program to prominence.

[H/T SEC Country]