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Could Bob Stoops be on the Tennessee Vols radar if Butch Jones is fired?

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops celebrates with wide receiver Jarvis Baxter (1) after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in double overtime at Neyland Stadium. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops celebrates with wide receiver Jarvis Baxter (1) after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in double overtime at Neyland Stadium. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Butch Jones is squarely on the hot seat for 2017. If he’s fired, could the Tennessee Volunteers look at former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops?

Let’s just stop and think about all the connections first. Vols Athletic Director spent the last eight years in the Big 12 with the Kansas State Wildcats. He watched his program go 2-5 against Bob Stoops on the football field.

So Currie already has one connection.

On top of that, you know that he wants to bring in his own guy. So Butch Jones’s leash is tighter than it even was before going into this year.

And finally, Currie’s history shows that he uses one of two methods to hire a coach: find an unproven assistant with a lot of potential or hire a veteran that has seen much success in the past.

Bob Stoops definitely fits the second category, more than anybody else Currie has hired.

At age 56, he’s the same age Nick Saban was his first year with the Alabama Crimson Tide. So he clearly has plenty of years left in him.

On top of that, the guy has an argument to be the most successful coach in the history of specifically the Big 12, capturing 10 conference championships and a national championship.

So he’s seen success.

Of course, the reasoning behind his retiring is questionable.

I suspect it had something to do with the Joe Mixon controversy, and given what happened recently with the lawsuit against the Vols, that could make for a red flag against hiring him.

But as a new athletic director, Currie seems like somebody who would dismiss that.

Meanwhile, there’s no way Stoops, given the fiery guy he is, doesn’t get the fire in his belly to coach again very soon.

And Tennessee would be a perfect spot for him. He’d be in a more fertile recruiting state than he was in, and he already has experience recruiting in a border state with elite talent. Tennessee has lots of those.

In fact, he’d have more of an advantage recruiting in Tennessee.

Add that to the fact that he’d be coaching in the SEC East, which is very down in terms of coaches right now, and he’d have a field day.

The job has to be very compelling.

Now, I say it’s not the best fit from Tennessee’s angle. If Jones doesn’t work out, then  they should look at either Bobby Petrino, Chip Kelly, or even Lane Kiffin.

However, it would be the perfect landing spot for Bob Stoops. And John Currie seems like just the type of guy who would bring him in.

So it shouldn’t be surprising if the Vols take a hard look at hi by the end of this year.

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