This was the year Tennessee was supposed to be great again. It was going to win the SEC East and finally get a 10-win season (before a bowl game). Well, the season got off to a great start with a 5-0 record and some crazy finishes. However, the Vols finished 3-4 the rest of the season and limped off the field against Vanderbilt in a 45-34 loss.
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That doesn't sit well with the fans who were expecting ten wins and a division title. In the past few weeks, 247Sports has talked to dozens of former and current coaches, players and administrators at Tennessee. They've been working to take the temperature of a place again trending down on the national and SEC landscapes.
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Their bottom line is that Jones has doubt from everywhere rushing his way and most of that doubt revolves around Jones being able to lead a team to a national title. From 247Sports:
He's rightly credited for cleaning up the personnel mess Derek Dooley created and left behind. He is generally liked on a personal level within the building, with one administrator calling him a "fundamentally good person." But the sense is that the 48-year-old, fourth-year coach is not capable of leading Tennessee to be a champion of anything substantive on a football field.
The article goes on to explain that Jones is insecure in his ability to coach at a Power Five school and that he feels like he doesn't belong there at times. There was also a culture of allowing star players to get away with weak effort in both the weight room and on the field. A prime example is the reports that star Kahlil McKenzie wouldn't play tackle and refused to play the position, leading to lesser talented players taking over.
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There were some changes at the beginning of the season including the phasing out of strength coach Dave Lawson, who is well respected in the strength and conditioning community. Some sources told 247 that Lawson tired of Jones meddling with his program, with resulting friction sometimes causing the two to butt heads. Others told 247 that veteran players partially influenced the final decision to fire Lawson; they didn't like Lawson and wanted him out.
Those sources also said that the spring game and the offseason suffered for it. 247 also believes that as many as four assistant coaches could be out for Tennessee after the bowl game. It's sounding like major change is coming and Butch Jones likely has one more year to right the ship.
He's likely not to get fired because of his huge $10 million buyout and the fact that Tennessee is in the middle of finding a new athletic director. So firing Jones would only cause more confusion and instability than they're experiencing now. However, rumors have it that Chattanooga AD David Blackburn could fill the same position at UT. He's worked with Jones before so that could help the coach get back to winning ways as well.
[h/t 247Sports]
