Butch Jones’ seat is beyond scorching following Saturday’s loss to South Carolina, and Twitter is ready for Tennessee to make a change.
The long-term fate of Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones was probably decided weeks ago, but Saturday’s result at Neyland Stadium certainly didn’t help.
Tennessee mustered just 253 yards of total offense and stalled near the goal line in the final seconds of a 15-9 loss to South Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. With a mark of 3-3 that includes an epic beatdown at the hands of Georgia and a nervy win over UMass, Tennessee looks to be in for a season that could rival the worst of the Derek Dooley era.
After coming over from Cincinnati in 2013, Jones looked to be in for a promising tenure at Tennessee with a number of elite recruiting classes. Jones has managed a 33-24 record while capping out at nine wins with all that talent, and the Volunteers have not won the weak SEC East under him.
Saturday’s game was likely a must-win for Jones to survive at least until the end of the season, and mustering nine points against the Gamecocks isn’t particularly inspiring. As you might expect, Twitter isn’t super thrilled with Jones at the moment.
You fire Butch Jones this evening, Tennessee can’t wait any longer.
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) October 14, 2017
Well....did we just watch Butch Jones' last game as UT's head coach?
— Nathanael Rutherford (@Mr_Rutherford) October 14, 2017
Tennessee shoulda fired Butch Jones after the UGA shutout but I like seeing awful things happen so I hope they keep him for the Bama game
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) October 14, 2017
Butch Jones had two weeks to prepare for South Carolina and Tennessee has negative offensive yardage in the second half.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 14, 2017
Well, until we fire big head @UTCoachJones I’m going with....roll tide? 🙃
— Josh Eastman (@Josh_Eastman23) October 14, 2017
That will be Butch Jones' second loss in a row to South Carolina. A program who has been to the SEC championship game once.
— Vol Herald (@VolHerald) October 14, 2017
I stand by what I said last week. If Butch Jones is allowed to continue to coach, this program will have 1st 8 loss season ever.
— Chad Withrow (@TheChadWithrow) October 14, 2017
I ain’t gonna lie, if I was Butch Jones, I would be begging to be fired before the Bama game. Boyyyy that game is going to be UG-A-LY
— Combinacìon (@_IAmYourOG) October 14, 2017
Some fans and analysts note that Tennessee should fire Jones ahead of what’s sure to be a horrific loss at Alabama next week. The Volunteers would do well to follow that advice, as there’s no benefit to letting the Jones saga drag on until December.
There’s absolutely nothing Jones can do to save his job at this point, which may have even been true before losing ugly to South Carolina. Jones has completely lost the Tennessee fanbase, and a dysfunctional locker room plus weekly cliche-filled press conferences aren’t helping his case either.
Things are going to get really ugly if Tennessee keeps an unpopular lame duck coach, so the Volunteers should make the move before the end of the weekend, Meanwhile, Tennessee can get a head start on searching for its next coach, which could prove to be a major factor before the yearly carousel really gets going.
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Whether the Volunteers want to give an unemployed coach like Chip Kelly a call or start scouting someone like Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, having a two-month advantage over the rest of the competition will help them make the right hire. Keeping Jones past the weekend will only lead to more anger from the fan base and worse efforts on the field.