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Tennessee football: Butch Jones hired as Arkansas State head coach

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: Butch Jones of the Alabama Crimson Tide before the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: Butch Jones of the Alabama Crimson Tide before the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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The former Tennessee football Volunteers head coach is now with the Red Wolves.

It looks like another school has aspirations to win the Life Championship. After three years as an off-field assistant with the Alabama Crimson Tide, former Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones has landed another gig.

Jones was named head coach of the Arkansas State Red Wolves, the school announced on Saturday.  He replaces Blake Anderson, who was hired as head coach of the Utah State Aggies after seven years in Jonesboro, Ark. in which he made six bowl appearances.

In five years with Tennessee football, Jones went 34-27. He made three bowl games. He also led the Vols to back to back 9-4 seasons and their only two top 25 finishes ever since they fired Phillip Fulmer after the 2008 season.

Dave Hart hired Jones at the end of the 2012 season as Derek Dooley’s replacement. At the time, Jones had just won back to back Big East Championships with the Cincinnati Bearcats. Before that he won two MAC Championships in three years with the Central Michigan Chippewas, making for four championships in six years.

Athletic director John Currie fired Jones in the midst of a 4-8 season in 2017, the first winless season in the SEC UT ever suffered. After that, however, he bungled the coaching search, which led to his ouster and Fulmer’s takeover as athletic director. Fulmer then went and hired Jeremy Pruitt less than a week later.

Given the fact that Jones’ buyout with the Vols will end in two months, it seems like odd timing for him to take his new head coaching job. However, nobody can blame him for taking advantage of a contract Rocky Top offered him.

Next. Five takeaways from Vols' 42-17 win at Vanderbilt. dark

At a smaller school like Arkansas State, Jones has the resources he needs to be successful. He may be able to turn things around for himself. However, there’s no doubt that Tennessee football made the right move firing him. While he did some good things, the program fell apart under him in the end. The Vols did what they had to do.

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