Vols Football: Butch Jones Deserves Support From Tennessee Fans

Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones had a very up and down year in 2016.

After the Vols lost to Vanderbilt to end the regular season, there were a lot of folks calling for Butch Jones’ job.

But after stepping back and taking an overall look at the Tennessee football program, I’ve decided that was a bit unfair.

I hate today’s culture of firing a coach after such a brief period of time (unless it’s an obvious case of coaching malpractice), yet that’s exactly what I thought Tennessee should do with Jones.

Jones, however, has now led the Volunteers to two straight nine win seasons. That’s the first time that’s happened in Knoxville in nearly a decade.

While that’s not where the Vols wanted to be this season, it’s still success.

Sure, the Vols should’ve been an 11 win team this season. There’s no excuse for losing to South Carolina and Vanderbilt. I’m certain that Jones is harder on himself for those two losses than any fan can imagine. But the losses happened and all Tennessee can do is move on and get better.

And let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time a team has been picked to win a division and failed to do so. That doesn’t mean that Jones should be fired because of that.

Injuries did mount for the Vols this year. That’s not an excuse for losing to South Carolina or Vanderbilt, but it’s still a fact that can’t be ignored.

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If Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Cam Sutton are healthy all season, I don’t think Tennessee loses those two games.

Jones still has a lot of growing to do as a head coach. We all know that. He’s still finding out who he is a coach. What works and what doesn’t work.

As sports fans we tend to look to the past to determine the future. We compare the coaching arc of incredibly successful coaches like Nick Saban to guys like Jones and try to find a pattern.

We crave symmetry.

But sometimes, actually a lot of times, that symmetry isn’t going to be found.

Because every coach is different. Every path is different.

Just because Jim Harbaugh turned Michigan around in a single year doesn’t mean that the same variables are in place for Jones to do the same at Tennessee.

Look, I’m well aware that Jones has some things he needs to do different in order to take the Vols to the next level (which we’ll look at in the coming days).

But I’m cautiously optimistic that Jones will evaluate everything in the program to hopefully take Tennessee to a championship caliber level.

Next: Alvin Kamara Makes NFL Decision

Butch Jones is still squarely on the hot seat heading into 2017, but fans should still be excited about the direction of the program.

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