Tennessee Volunteers Football: Will Butch Jones Be An Elite Coach?

Apr 20, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones during the first half of the spring Orange and White game at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

As college football fans we’ve all seen our share of elite coaches over the years.

But what truly defines being elite and could that term apply to the new Tennessee Volunteers football coach, Butch Jones, one day?

The term “elite” is thrown around a lot these days. It’s nearly impossible to predict if a player or coach will end up being considered elite, but there are a few indicators we can look at to make an educated guess as to what the future holds.

In order to make a prediction for Butch Jones’ legacy, it’d be a good idea to look at not only his track-record thus far in his career, but also the road-map that previous coaches have laid in front of him.

Two coaches that can provide a good case study for what Jones’ future in the SEC will look like are Nick Saban and Les Miles.

Both coaches share several career parallels with Butch Jones and are considered “elite” coaches by most standards.

So where do those parallels begin?

Well just like Jones, both Saban and Miles have strong ties to the state of Michigan.

Butch Jones, a native of Michigan, was an assistant coach at Central Michigan for seven seasons. Jones returned to Central Michigan in 2007 to serve as the team’s head coach.

Nick Saban’s connections to the state of Michigan date back to 1983, when he joined Michigan State as an assistant coach. Saban remained on the Spartan’s staff as an assistant until 1987. He returned to Michigan State in 1995, taking over as head coach from his mentor George Perles.

Les Miles, a Ohio native, played college football at the university of Michigan. Miles served as a graduate assistant for the Wolverines during the 1980 and 1981 seasons. He returned to Michigan in 1987, where he would serve as the team’s offensive line coach for eight seasons.

The connections to the state of Michigan are likely insignificant parallels, but they are parallels nonetheless.

So what else can we learn from looking at the history of Miles and Saban?

Well, how about their coaching resumes before coming to the SEC?

First we’ll take a look at Les Miles.

Miles took his first head coaching job in 2001, returning to Oklahoma State, where he had served as offensive coordinator from 1995-1997, before coaching the Dallas Cowboys tight ends for three seasons.

The Mad-Hatter’s first season in Stillwater wasn’t anything to write home about, as the Cowboys finished 4-7. It’s important to note, however, that Oklahoma State had failed to win more then five games in a season the previous three years.

Miles fared better during his next three seasons, posting win totals of 8, 9 and 7. He also won one bowl game along the way — the Houston Bowl in 2002. Miles finished his time at Oklahoma State with a record of 28-21, good enough for a winning percentage of 57%.

Les Miles left Oklahoma State after 2004 to take the head coaching job at LSU, where he took over for none other than Nick Saban, who had left LSU to coach the Miami Dolphins in the NFL.

During Miles’ first season in Baton Rouge he experienced great success, winning 11 games. In fact Miles enjoyed double-digit winning seasons in each of his first three seasons with the Tigers, culminating with a BCS championship in 2007. Miles of course had quite the foundation layed before him by Nick Saban, so his situation coming to LSU is a bit different then that of Butch Jones. Regardless, Miles has manged to maintain that success throughout his time at LSU, compiling a record of 85-21 during his eight seasons as the Tigers’ head coach.

Miles predecessor at LSU, Nick Saban, began his head coaching career with a one year stint at Toledo (9-2), before spending a few seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Bill Belichick. Saban then took over at Michigan State in 1995, going 6-5-1 in his first season.

Saban wasn’t spectacular during his first few seasons with the Spartans, but he wasn’t bad by any means either. He managed to keep his Michigan State squad bowl eligible for three of his first four seasons, while never experiencing a losing season. Saban really put it together during his fifth season, going 9-2 and earning an invite to the Citrus Bowl. Saban took the LSU job and therefore didn’t coach in the Spartan’s bowl game.

Saban finished his time as Michigan State’s coach with a record of 34-24-1, for a winning percentage of 57%, identical to Miles’ winning percentage before coming to the SEC.

You all know the rest of the story for Saban, he’s won four national championships (one with LSU, three with Alabama) and will likely be adding to his trophy collection.

Based on what Miles and Saban had done before joining the SEC, I doubt that anyone would’ve predicted they’d one day be “elite” coaches.

For that same reason I seriously doubt that anyone thinks Butch Jones will join those same ranks, even though his success prior to joining the SEC is actually more impressive then that of both Les Miles and Nick Saban.

Jones will enter the SEC with a career coaching record of 50-27, good enough for a winning percentage of 65%. Butch has also won four conference championships (two at Central Michigan and two at Cincinnati), so he’s already enjoyed quite a bit of success.

Yes, it’s impossible to predict if a coach will be “elite” or not, hopefully Vol fans will reserve judgement for at least a couple of years.

Just look at Saban’s first year at Alabama. He didn’t walk into the best situation, taking over for the underwhelming Mike Shula, who had went 6-6 as the Crimson Tide head coach in 2006 (Alabama finished 6-7, they lost their bowl game under interim head coach Joe Kines).

Saban finished that first season 7-6. He was unable to end the Crimson Tide’s losing streak to Auburn, and even lost a game to Louisiana-Monroe. After that first season there wasn’t anyone that could’ve predicted that Saban would go on to enjoy the success that he has over the past few seasons.

If the Vols make a bowl game in 2013, Tennessee fans should be happy. Don’t expect the world in year one (yes it’s year one!, not year zero!). It’s important to remember — Butch Jones is literally rebuilding this program from the ground up, as long as you see progress, that’s what matters.

There’s already been signs of progress, hell Butch Jones has made more progress in six months than Derek Dooley made in three years, for that reason some fans may already consider Jones elite.

Jones needs the patience and backing of Vol fans, he’s already given them reason to believe, reason to be patient.

I’m not quite ready to call Jones elite just yet, but based off what I’ve seen, I think he has what it takes to be one of the premier coaches in the Southeastern Conference.

And who knows, one day in the near future, Jones might be used as an example in one of these articles about an up and coming coach.

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