Tennessee football: Five ways Josh Heupel hire resembles Butch Jones

3. Staff members connected to Butch Jones

We’ve reported on all of these, but members of Josh Heupel’s staff have ties, directly and indirectly, to Butch Jones. Most notable among them is Tennessee football defensive coordinator Tim Banks, who served as Jones’ defensive coordinator with the Central Michigan Chippewas and Cincinnati Bearcats. We wrote about Banks’ connections to Jones here.

Then there is Willie Martinez, who has been brought on to coach the secondary. Martinez, as we wrote about here, worked under Jones with the Vols from 2013 to 2016, and they served as assistants together at Central Michigan in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

What stands out even more about Banks and Martinez is the fact that both have Michigan ties, as we pointed out. Jones’ ties were deep to Michigan before he arrived on Rocky Top, spending years as an assistant or head coach at four different schools up there during his time.Those are the two most notable hires

Speaking of Michigan, new linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary is heading to UT after coaching the same position under Jim Harbaugh’s staff with the Michigan Wolverines. So the Vols have three coaches from Michigan, where Jones’ ties are deep, and two coaches who have worked directly under Jones. The staff also makes something else similar, and that leads to our next similarity.