It appears this time, reports that now former University of Cincinnati coach Butch Jones has accepted a new job are true.Just two days after the false report by Woody Paige of the Denver Post saying Jones was taking the Colorado job, he officially accepted a much better one. Jones will be introduced Friday afternoon as the new head coach at the University of Tennessee.
Jones had been at Cincinnati for 3-years and won 23 games. He took them to a bowl game each of the last two seasons.
He moves from the relative obscurity of a job in the Big East to the bright...and we do mean bright lights of Knoxville. The Volunteer program has been in free fall for the past 5-years after the school fired long-time coach Phil Fulmer after the 2007 season. Now USC coach Lane Kiffin followed Fulmer and was there for a season, Derek Dooley was hired shortly thereafter Dooley went 15-21 in his three seasons before being asked to leave.
It will be very interesting to see what Jones can do. Tennessee was once of the SEC East's power schools and the alumni have never gotten past that. But with their limited success over the past few years, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and even Vanderbilt have passed them by. We will be very curious to see if the somewhat delusional Vol faithful give Jones the time needed to rebuild their program.
As for Jones's previous employer, they will again search for another "Up and Coming" candidate. Cincinnati has done a good job grooming coaches (Brian Kelly) for bigger positions, so the expectation is they'll find someone who may not be a "Big Name" but will probably be successful before moving on to one of the "Big Boy" conference jobs.
Here's the Jones presser:
((HT: WBIR-TV))
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