Tennessee Vols: Butch Jones Shouldn’t Be On The Hot Seat

Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones, according to multiple media outlets, is on the hot seat entering the 2017 season.

I try to be as realistic as possible when it comes to the Tennessee Vols.

That means, however, that someone is always going to majorly disagree with my opinions. And that’s ok, that’s why we’re here.

So I’m aware that me saying Butch Jones shouldn’t be on the hot seat in 2017 probably won’t sit well with some folks.

I get it. Trust me, I do.

The Vols blew the SEC East last year by losing to two really bad teams in South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Fans were obviously upset, and their anger was compounded when Jones offered up excuses for why his team failed to live up to expectations.

It’s not that Jones was wrong — a large number of injuries to key players severely hurt the Vols. But the last thing fans want to hear when losing to South Carolina (who was pretty bad last season) and Vanderbilt are excuses of any sort.

Fans were right to be upset at those losses, but you can’t place the blame entirely on Jones.

Josh Dobbs had one of the worst games of his career against South Carolina. There’s not much Jones can do about that. At the end of the day, we’re still dealing with kids that are 18-22 years old. Coaching goes a long way, but when it comes down to it, it’s up to the players to execute.

But that’s not why I think it’s unfair to put Jones on the hot seat. I think it’s unfair to put Jones on the hot seat because fans have unrealistic expectations of where the program should be, or will be, or has been.

Jones has put together three straight winning seasons, something that Vols haven’t done since before 2005.

Tennessee’s 18 wins the past two seasons are the most games the Vols have won in a two year period since they won 19 games in 2006 and 2007.

I’m not saying Jones deserves to be coach of the year by any means, but it’s not like he’s driving the program into the ground either. It’s certainly in better shape than it was in the five year period before he arrived in Knoxville.

And about that five year period before Jones arrived — fans don’t have the luxury of pretending like that’s not part of Tennessee football history. It’s very much part of Tennessee’s history and it’s part of who the program is and has been. You don’t get to keep the sweet parts of history and disregard the sour part as an outlier.

Speaking of Tennessee history, in the 24 years before Jones arrived at Tennessee (going back to 1989), the Volunteers averaged 8.7 wins per season.

Even if you want to discard the three abysmal Derek Dooley years (which I don’t think you can, but whatever), the Vols averaged 9.1 wins per season (1989-2009).

Tennessee is coming off back to back nine win seasons. Jones is doing exactly what Tennessee football has been, more or less, since the early 90’s.

How about a couple of other things Jones has managed to do at Tennessee that haven’t been done in quite some time:

• Beat Florida and Georgia in the same year for the first time since 2004
• Won three straight bowl games for the first time since the 1994-96 seasons
• Coached Tennessee’s offense to its highest scoring total (473 points) in program history
• 2-0 against Steve Spurrier

Those aren’t necessarily incredible accomplishments, but they’re at least note worthy.

Jones’ biggest problem with fans is that he has no equity in the program. He doesn’t have a national championship in his back pocket (though these days that doesn’t even get you much, just as Gene Chizik).

And look, I get that fans are tired of not being in the national spotlight.

But Tennessee went from being a great program, to an average program, to a below average program.

Right now, the Vols are back to being an average program.

I won’t lie to you and tell you that I think Jones will turn Tennessee into a great program. I don’t know if he will, no one does. He definitely has his flaws as a head coach. The cliches that he spits out on a regular basis are maddening, and anytime he utters what sounds like an excuse, it makes my head want to explode.

But we can’t keep pretending like Jones is an awful coach, because he’s technically right on par with what Tennessee football has been over the last quarter century.

Tennessee could be in a lot worse shape right now. Just imagine if Charlie Strong had got the job in 2012.

Next: Vols' Biggest Win Of Each Season Since 2000

Let’s give Jones a chance and see what he can do in 2017 and beyond.