Published Friday, Dec 7, 2012 at 10:13 am EST Last updated 2 hours and 17 minutes ago
How low does Vols Nation?s self-esteem go?
As Butch Jones' hiring was announced early Friday morning, some fans complained on Twitter because Butch Jones? 2011 Cincinnati team actually managed to lose a game to?get this?Tennessee.
The blackest of black marks, apparently.
Many others reacted with a mix of emotions ranging from ?he?s not good enough? to ?who is this guy??
These folks, apparently, have failed to accept the reality that has occurred twice now in just under three years: Next to nobody wants to coach ol? Rocky Top. What happened this offseason was a repeat of what happened before Derek Dooley was finally hired to replace Lane Kiffin in January of 2010, which is to say Knoxville was flooded with thanks-but-no-thankses.
All those rejections not only embarrassed the school but damaged its football reputation in a big way.
There?s a difference this time, though: UT got a better ?yes.?
Dooley had a career record of 17-20 as a head coach, all as a head coach, when former AD Mike Hamilton brought him to Knoxville?before the coach had proven himself worthy, many believed.
They were absolutely correct.
But there?s no reason to lump the 44-year-old Jones in with Dooley just because neither man was UT?s first (or second ? or third ?) choice.
Jones was 27-13 in three seasons at Central Michigan, where his teams won 20 of 23 conference games and reached three bowls. At Cincinnati, Jones was 23-14?but 19-6 (10-4) Big East over the past two seasons.
Some have knocked him as a coattail-rider, but the fact Jones replaced current Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly at both CMU and Cincy is a good thing, not a bad thing. The guy knows what a solidly-founded program is supposed to look like.
And Tennessee is anything but a solidly-founded program right now.
Jones inherits a program that?s coming off three straight losing seasons and hasn?t had a team with more than seven wins since 2007. In 2012, the Vols bottomed out, going 1-7 in the SEC for the second year in a row with a defense that was utterly in shambles.
Jones?real first name: Lyle?clearly has no coattails to ride into Knoxville, but he doesn?t need any. His Cincinnati teams, relative to the rest of the Big East, were fast, smart and explosive. He?ll have to adjust to the nuances of the SEC, as all newcomers do, but give Jones credit to being off to a very promising start in his career.
AD Dave Hart didn?t find a coach with SEC experience as he?d hoped to do, but everyone in Vols Nation just plain has to get over that. SEC breeding means nothing next to the sort of coaching skill that can be effective anywhere, and Jones, who?s from Saugatuck, Mich., a tiny resort town on Lake Michigan, and played at nearby Ferris State, has that.
For what it?s worth: Sporting News? 2012 FBS coaches rankings had Jones at No. 28 in the country?behind six men from the SEC. Dooley? He was way down at No. 99, or 14th and dead last in the SEC.
An upgrade in Knoxville? Yeah, we think so.
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