Tennessee Football: Vols head coach Butch Jones should be fired
By Colby Howell
Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones has been given the benefit of the doubt for five years. It’s time for the Volunteers and Butch Jones to part ways.
Butch Jones should be out of chances with Tennessee football and out of Knoxville as soon as possible. Everyone in Vol Nation has given him chance after chance. Some still are. But, after a stunningly close game with UMass, Jones needs to be fired this week.
Though you can be almost 100% positive that won’t happen, the majority of Vols fans are itching for it. I’ve never been at such a loss for words after a Tennessee football game in my life. Butch Jones not only demonstrated his inability to coach; he underachieved in instilling leadership in his players and found every possible way to be one of the most one-dimensional teams in college football.
The Vols left the field on the opening drive as fast as they came out, three and out. Of course, I didn’t even half expect it to be as close as the game actually was. I only expected another lackadaisical win, similar to Indiana St. Yeah, I was off.
The one good thing about this game is Butch Jones seems to be holding himself accountable. He claimed the team’s performance is “flat out unacceptable” and that it first and foremost “starts with me.” While his maturity in the situation is to be commended, it doesn’t change the fact that he can’t coach a team.
Butch Jones received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which changed a 2nd & 10 to a 1st and Goal, giving up a touchdown to UMass. This would’ve tied the game in the first half had the Minutemen not missed the extra point. As a result the Vols had a one point lead…against an 0-4 UMass.
I can’t stress that enough.
This is only one of the many, many outright moronic and costly actions in a game that should’ve never been close. While a win is still a win, there’s a particular reason why this one is just inexcusably bad (even worse than Florida).
WHY THE LONG FACE?
If the Vols find they can barely hold their own, at home, against an 0-4 team, what in the world makes anyone believe they can squander a win against conference opponents that are killing it in the SEC? Georgia is living up to every last bit of hype they have.
They managed a sound 31-3 victory over Mississippi St. tonight, a team that blew LSU out of the water (37-7). Kentucky is another dangerous threat that is also living up to the hype. They managed to stay on top of Florida and nearly snap a 30 year losing streak. Mind you, the Vols also lost to Florida when the defense crumbled on a final Hail Mary attempt.
With the coaching that Tennessee football has, they’d be lucky to find a win against Missouri. The play calling limited both quarterbacks (Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano). While some wouldn’t understand why Jones would put Guarantano in at such a pivotal time, I appreciated it.
Neither quarterback excelled but coach Jones saw the limitations a lowly UMass team was putting on the Vols. He recognized that something needed to change and took a risk. You don’t see that a lot from such a conservative head coach.
The crowd erupted in cheers when Guarantano saw the field. It looked like there was new life in a deteriorating crowd the was mostly gone by the the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, he didn’t live up either.
At the end of the day, the Vols (3-1) had 319 total yards, the Minutemen (0-5) had 281. It’s just embarrassing for a team that’s supposed to be a Power 5 school be that close in yardage with a non winning program. If you were able to catch the Alabama/Vanderbilt game, those were the stats I imagined UT putting up against Massachusetts.
Alabama won in breezy fashion at 59-0 with almost 700 yards offense. Vanderbilt had 78 yards.
CLOSING THOUGHT:
Look, I digress with these stats. But, it goes to show that if Tennessee plays in similar fashion against Georgia, they are in for a rude awakening. The players aren’t playing like they want it. Coaches are calling inexcusable, confusing and nonsensical plays. It’s simply boring.
Tennessee football needs a leader. While Butch Jones has done a remarkable job recovering UT from the Dooley disaster, he’s reached his plateau. There is no “next level” with him. His fans were falling asleep through the game, not even interested in a nail biter game that shouldn’t have been.
“The boo birds are out in Knoxville, folks.” – a very comforting note from the announcer after coming into this game as a 28 point favorite. It’s unacceptable and I can’t say I don’t understand why fans booed. For the life of me, I can’t see Tennessee winning Saturday against the Bulldogs. Too much needs to change and it begins with the head coach.
They can’t even rally a 12th man against a team they know they can beat. I can’t tell the future but you can almost guarantee a gloomy day in Knoxville coming up on Sept. 30th.