By Jimmy Hyams
Butch Jones has laid his last brick at Tennessee.
UT athletic director John Currie fired Jones on Sunday morning, hours after the Vols were routed 50-17 at Missouri, according to multiple sources.
The loss dropped UT’s record to 0-6 in the SEC, 4-6 overall. The Vols have never gone winless in SEC play. League games remain against LSU and Vanderbilt. The Vols have also never lost eight games in a season, a possibility this year.
Jones informed his coaches Sunday morning. Jones was offered a chance to coach the last two games but declined, a source said.
Currie named Brady Hoke as interim coach. He is in his first year as defensive line coach at Tennessee. He was formerly head coach at Michigan, San Diego State and Ball State.
Jones did a good job helping Tennessee climb out of the depths of the Derek Dooley disaster; Dooley had back-to-back 1-7 SEC records.
Jones won nine games two years in a row, won three straight bowl games and had two top 25 teams. Jones upgraded the talent as six Vols were taken in the first four rounds of the most recent NFL draft. Jones’ first two years, no UT players were selected.
Paid attendance climbed back to nearly 100,000 per game for three years in a row and an average of over 70,000 season tickets were sold the past two years.
But the Vols blew a chance to win the East last year with a loss to South Carolina, then frittered away a likely Sugar Bowl berth with a loss to Vanderbilt.
With this team out of the East chase early this year and with an offense that ranks last in the SEC, Currie obviously decided Jones wasn’t the coach to get the Vols where they want to go – and that is back to Atlanta to play for an SEC championship.
Jones was 34-27 at UT, 14-24 in the SEC. Tennessee has lost its most recent game to each of the 13 teams in the SEC.
While Jones shouldn’t be completely held accountable for his overall SEC record since he inherited such a mess, he was 0-9 against SEC West teams and 14-15 against the East, which hasn’t been very strong in recent years.
Several coaching moves by Jones did not pan out. Jones hired the acclaimed Shoop from Penn State, but UT’s defense was horrific last year (due in part to injuries) and the run defense this year is allowing 256.9 yards per game, worst in school history. Five of the last 17 opponents have rushed for at least 400 yards.
Jones promoted tight ends coach Larry Scott to offensive coordinator, and the offense took a nose dive, struggling even more than the Clawson attack over the past four games.
Jones was hired Dec. 7, 2012 after winning or sharing four conference titles in six years at Central Michigan (27-13) and Cincinnati (23-14). He had an 11-win season at Central Michigan and a 10-win season at Cincinnati.
Jones was 12-13 his first two seasons at Tennessee before posting back-to-back 9-4 records.
Jones’ buyout is about $8.1 million. He gets $2.5 million for each of the three years left on his contract, which runs through Feb. 28, 2021. That’s $7.5 million plus momre than three months of a pro rated salary.
The buyout for the assistants is just over $6 million, counting the strength and conditioning coach. Each assistant’s deal runs through Feb. 28, 2019.
Each coach – including Jones – has offset language which means UT can subtract what if owes a coach if that coach gets another job.
UT’s next head coach will be its fifth in 10 years
Some potential candidates: Dan Mullen at Misssissippi State, Scott Frost at Central Florida, Mike Norvell at Memphis, Chad Morris at SMU, Matt Campbell at Iowa State, Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech and two defensive coordinators: Brent Venables at Clemson and Jeremy Pruitt at Alabama.
While many have mentioned Jon Gruden as a candidate, that is highly unlikely. Sources have told me if he returns to coaching, it would be in the NFL.
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