I'm gonna take off my orange-tinted glasses just for a minute. With them on, I'm sure that Tennessee is one of the top 5 destinations in all college football, and that Butch is 100% aware that he's much better suited to college coaching than coaching in the NFL.
Now, with them off...
1. Tennessee has been, at times in our history, one of the top 10 programs in America. But that hasn't been true lately, and college football--like every entertainment industry--is a 'what have you done for me lately' world.
2. Today, Tennessee is clawing its way back into consideration as a top 25 program. With continued success, it might be considered a top 10 program again one day in the next few years. Paradoxically, Butch is a big part of making that so.
3. Today, any individual coach's top 5 or top 10 dream job destinations depends strongly on who they are, where they're from, how they've experienced life. You can bet coaching for your alma mater is a Big Deal for most coaches. IF your alma mater is a Power 5 program.
4. Butch's alma mater is not a Power 5 program. On the other hand, Butch grew up in B10 country. That doesn't seem to make him a huge fanboi of Michigan or Ohio State opportunities, though. I mean, we don't know what happened behind closed doors, but it didn't appear that Butch was angling for the Michigan job before Harbaugh got it. But maybe he was, and it was just all very hush-hush between his agent and the Michigan AD. We'll likely never know. We also don't know how large national brands like Notre Dame (which has the added advantage of being in the same B10 footprint Butch grew up in) might appeal to him.
5. Butch may not be as smart about where he fits as we think he is. Maybe he does really want to go to the NFL, as LWS has reported in another thread. Maybe he thinks he can adjust his coaching style, his leadership style, his tactics, practically everything about himself, to fit the pros. We all know he's wrong about that, but maybe he thinks so.
So with the orange-tinted glasses off, there is a possibility Butch would leave Tennessee for another job, either college or pro. It might not be likely, but it is certainly possible.
I would hope not, and not just for our sake but also for his. Get past the Title IX mess (this too shall pass), get past the rebuilding pains (and he is pretty much past them now), and he's got a really good situation in Knoxville. One that fits him like a glove. He can make a life, a life for the record books, at Tennessee. That's probably not true at any other destination he could reasonably aspire to, at this point.
Only question remaining is, does he realize it?
Okay, glasses back on. Butch is a V F L, he's said it himself. Go Vols!