Tennessee football: Ranking all 25 full-time head coaches in Vols history

34-27 (14-24 SEC)

When you talk about inheriting a good situation and leaving a mess, Butch Jones has a lot of negatives working against him. However, on the field, he lasted five years, and he took Tennessee football to its highest peak of any head coach since Phillip Fulmer was fired, so he has to be somewhat higher than the other ones.

Jones came to UT after winning four championships in six years with the Central Michigan Chippewas and Cincinnati Bearcats, and despite not being a popular choice, he immediately won over the fan base. That’s because he got ahead of the curve at the time on social media and manipulated it for recruiting.

It worked, as the Vols secured back to back top five classes in 2014 and 2015. Although he had a losing record in 2013, the pieces were there, and after Joshua Dobbs was inserted midway through 2014, excitement peaked.

Outside of a couple of collapses in the first half of 2015, everything under Jones was on the right track, as he went 7-6 in 2014 and, despite a 2-3 start and then 3-4, led UT on a six-game winning streak to finish 9-4 and in the top 25. It was their first ranking and first season of over seven wins in eight years.

All signs were pointing up, and the Vols started 2016 in the top 10. Things peaked with them starting that year 5-0 and beating Florida and Georgia. However, then they lost to the Texas A&M Aggies, Alabama and South Carolina.

Overnight, everything collapsed. A team favored to win the East lost four of its final seven games. Transfers, decommitments and a wave of staff departures all came with it. Jones covered it with annoying phrases like champions of life and five-star hearts.

This all culminated in 2017. Jones, who had an issue with common sense in crucial moments in the game, choked away the Florida game for Tennessee football. It sent the Vols into a tailpsin that he couldn’t get them out of.

Eventually, UT fell to 4-6 in 2017, and after the bad end to 2016 and so many mismanaged games, fans were done. Jones was fired, and Brady Hoke finished the year, as the Vols fell to 4-8 and 0-8 in league play. The wave of transfers left Jeremy Pruitt a mess to clean up, but he only made it worse.