Tennessee Vols: Reports That Butch Jones Could Survive Season Are Disheartening

Will Butch Jones be the head coach of the Tennessee Vols in 2018?

For the last month, we’ve looked at a vast number of coaches that could potentially lead the Tennessee Vols in 2018.

But one name we haven’t thought about?

Butch Jones.

Yeah, I know. That doesn’t feel good at all to type.

Most folks in the national media have been calling for Jones’ job since an ugly loss to Florida in mid September.

But Jones is still Tennessee’s head coach, and a report from WMNL’s Jimmy Hyams suggests that he could be the coach in 2018 if Tennessee wins out.

Here’s the key passage from Hyams’ report:

"I believe Currie doesn’t want to fire Jones and I believe Jones has to give Currie a reason to keep him.I believe if Jones wins out, he will be Tennessee’s coach in 2018 – if he wants to stay.I believe anything short of a 5-0 finish and Jones is gone. You might argue that he could survive at 7-5 if the defeat is a close one to LSU. But I think it’s unlikely."

Ugh.

I can’t think of anything worse for Tennessee football than retaining Butch Jones.

If it’s true that John Currie doesn’t want to fire Jones, then he’s made his stance on football pretty clear. Obviously this is all hearsay and rumor, but everything coming out of Knoxville seems to suggest that Currie isn’t worried about the wins and losses. He seems content with whoever as the head coach as long as fans are buying tickets and merchandise.

Hopefully that’s nowhere near the truth, but we’ve yet to see any action from Currie that refutes that line of thinking.

Keeping Jones beyond 2017 — a coach that has consistently underachieved with above average talent — would plunge Tennessee football even further into darkness.

The Dooley years were dark. If the Vols keep Jones, it’ll make the Tyler Bray days seem like the golden years of Tennessee football.

For what it’s worth, I honestly don’t see any scenario where Jones is the head coach next season. Even if Jones miraculously wins out (which would require scoring an offensive touchdown, something UT hasn’t done since September 23), and Currie doesn’t fire him, is there any way Butch chooses to return to Knoxville next season?

The environment around Jones has become so toxic at this point that I don’t think he’d even want to be in Tennessee next season. This level of scrutiny clearly isn’t for him, and deep down he knows that.

But here’s the thing — Currie can’t let Jones step down on his own accord.

If Jones decides to leave, he won’t be making that decision until after the final game of the season, or even worse, after a bowl game (if the Vols win three more games). That would put Tennessee way behind in a coach search (would likely leave them looking at candidates currently in the NFL, or other less attractive options at the college level).

Currie should’ve fired Jones after the Alabama game. He obviously can’t fire him if Tennessee beats Kentucky on Saturday night, and the Vols should beat Southern Mississippi the next week.

With every week that passes that Jones is still the head coach, it just puts Tennessee’s coaching search that much further behind.

Next: Gary Patterson Open To Leaving TCU?

Hopefully Currie has a plan, but I’m quickly losing confidence that he does.