Vols Football: 5 Things Butch Jones Must Do To Improve Next Season

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Nov 26, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee head coach Butch Jones during the second half at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Smotherman Burgess/Knoxville News Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK /

Hire A New Offensive Line Coach

This is the one thing that Butch Jones absolutely must do during the off-season.

Don Mahoney has been with Butch Jones since 2007. He’s went with him from Central Michigan to Cincinnati, and now Tennessee.

But the offensive line at Tennessee, under Mahoney, has severely under performed since the Jones/Mahoney tandem arrived in 2013.

There’s been plenty of talent around. It just hasn’t been developed like you’d expect at a SEC school.

Jones has to make a move this off-season. I understand that Mahoney has been with him for a long time. But that’s the ugly part of the coaching business sometimes.

With Jones on the hot seat heading into 2017, is he willing to risk his job to keep Mahoney employed at UT?

If Tennessee does move on from Mahoney, then keep an eye on Vols OL quality control coach Walt Wells.

Wells was previously the assistant head coach/offensive line coach at Eastern Kentucky. He recently interviewed for the offensive line coaching job at South Carolina.

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