Rocky Top Beat: Jones hired as Vols’ football coach

December 14, 2012

Rocky Top Beat: Jones hired as Vols’ football coach

By Frank Gale Chronicle correspondent The Crossville Chronicle Fri Dec 14, 2012, 08:57 AM CST

CROSSVILLE — The Big Orange finally got a leader for their football program last Friday. After shooting for the stars, the Vols ended up with a good coach despite a search that, at times, left a lot to be desired. Hopefully, we have seen the last of football coaching searches for a while. I sure hope that future searches will be conducted just a little bit differently. Anyhow, Lyle Allen “Butch” Jones is the man tapped to lead the Vols out of the football wilderness they have found themselves in.

By now, most know that Jones has been successful at each of his previous two head coaching stops, Central Michigan University of the MAC and, most recently, at Cincinnati from the Big East Conference. He has won conference titles in four of the last six years (two at each of his previous schools). Of course, it didn’t hurt that he followed current Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly at each of his previous stops. More on that later.

Coach Jones will be bringing the majority of his coaching staff with him from Cincinnati and at the present time has only retained former Vol Jay Graham from the previous staff. The last opening on the staff will be filled by someone other than former Vol quarterback Tee Martin, who will be staying in sunny Southern California to remain on former coach Lane ‘I’m hanging on by a thread’ Kiffin’s staff.

Coach Jones is certainly the polar opposite of the previous two football head coaches we have seen on Rocky Top. He has been extremely upbeat and very animated in his public appearances since his arrival a week ago. No longer will our orange clad warriors take the field without being completely hyped on game day. Call me crazy, but that attitude could have translated into a few more victories these past few years.

It has been stated that Coach Jones won and had success with someone else’s recruits (Kelly’s). Vol fans should hope that is right because, for the immediate future, he is going to have to win with Dooley and Kiffen’s recruits.

Coach Jones certainly will have a great opportunity to land highly rated recruits with his personality and the great facilities at UT. While he was head coach at Cincinnati, Jones recruited the state of Florida very well. There are eight players currently on the Bearcat roster that arrived under his tenure. He got them to go to Cincinnati. That alone is a reason to believe this man can recruit.

Coach Jones had a 27-13 record at Central Michigan, while Coach Kelly left with a 19-16 record before heading to Cincinnati. The record of Coach Jones’ replacement is but a mere 12-24. That either speaks highly to his coaching players to over achieve or questionable recruiting. Only time will tell. One thing for sure, unlike the last occupant of the head football coach’s office at UT, he comes to Knoxville with a winning record for his head coaching career (50-27).

Butch Jones has a busy time ahead, recruiting, getting his staff up and running, plus getting acquainted with the team he inherits. It does help that he recruited about half of UT’s current players while they were in high school. Then there is the skeptical Vol Nation he must get on board for the upcoming season. No easy task after the past five years.

Luckily, Coach Jones will find one of the best fan bases in college football as he tries to resurrect the program. In the meantime, buckle up. It all starts for real in only 249 short days, but who is counting. Go Vols!

(Frank Gale is a Chronicle correspondent and his column appears regularly.)

Text Only

Sports Columns

Tennessee Orange/White game is in the books
The 2013 Orange/White Game is in the books and for now, the immediate hopes and dreams of Team 117 could rest on an improved defense. It is also going to depend on offensive players that either missed the game with injuries or are not yet on campus.

April 25, 2013
Rowan adds PrepXtra award to his 2013 honors
Stone Memorial senior Brock Rowan added to a growing list of honors Thursday, as he was named to the PrepXtra Boys First Team by the Knoxville NewsSentinel.

April 25, 2013
ROCKY TOP BEAT: UT Orange and White game kicks off Saturday
I can’t believe the Orange-White Game has arrived already. Tomorrow, Neyland Stadium will be the site for what has been an annual rite of spring for the Vol Nation. Fans will get their first glimpse of the new coaching staff and the players that will give their all for Tennessee in the fall.

April 18, 2013
Rocky Top Beat: Lady Vols extends NCAA home court record to 52-0
The Lady Vols ran their record in NCAA Tournament games played at Knoxville to 52-0 this past week after winning their two opening round games. Oklahoma City is the next stop, where the Lady Vols will play Oklahoma University on Sunday at 3:35 p.m. CDT on ESPN 2.

March 28, 2013 1 Photo
It is sweet 16 for March Madness
March Madness has entered the round of 16 or Sweet 16 as many refer to it, and "how sweet it is" to have a couple of "Cinderella" teams on both sides of the ball.
The Florida Gulf Coast University Golden Eagles and the Delaware Blue Hens have moved into the "Sweet 16" round of both the men's and women's tournaments this weekend.

March 28, 2013
All in the Game: Are the ladies taking over some sports?
Though the female kicker didn't do well at all at the NFL combine, she at least did get the opportunity to try out. Danica Patrick did win the pole at the Daytona 500 and also finished well in the event. Is she going to be a factor in the Sprint Cup series or was the Daytona performance just a fluke? Some think that it was somewhat staged to help promote NASCAR, which has staggered a little in their ratings.

March 7, 2013
Oh Good Greif: Spring sports dodging bad weather to prepare for the season
"It's beginning to look a lot like...." You know the rest of it, but that came to my mind Wednesday as the snow fell, forcing schools to be closed for another day. This puts a damper on spring sports practices, as the regular seasons for baseball, softball, tennis, boys soccer and track and field begin next week.

March 7, 2013
Rocky Top Beat: Vols, Lady Vols waiting for selection weekend
The Lady Vols and the Vols both failed to win on the road last weekend. The men almost suffered a fatal blow to their NCAA Tournament hopes with their second loss to Georgia but, with a weak tournament field this year, they lived to fight a while longer.

March 7, 2013
ROCKY TOP BEAT: Only 267 days until Vanderbilt-Tennessee game
It was nice to have Jim Butler back “in the game" again last week. I can’t imagine anyone being more devoted to the Commodores, no matter how misguided that loyalty turns out most of the time. Now, with one successful football campaign in the books, the stakes are sure to rise this fall in regards to that Big Orange rivalry.

February 28, 2013
ALL IN THE GAME: It is so good to be back
I want to apologize to the growing number of Vanderbilt fans that I feel that I have let them down by being out of service for a little while. In addition to the apology, let me give my thanks to Frank Gale and others whose thoughts and prayers helped trememdously.

February 21, 2013
More Sports Columns Headlines

Sports Columns

Search Results

Rocky Top Beat: Jones hired as Vols’ football coach

Site Map

Contact Us