Any talk of the hot seat or how important a season this is for Butch Jones boils down to one thing for me, and that's his contract situation.
Currently, Jones's deal runs through the 2020 season, meaning after this season he'll have three seasons left on it. That's not an ideal scenario for any coach to operate in. Every rival would be pointing that out on the recruiting trail.
Thus it'd seem there would have to be a decision on Jones one way or the other, because you can't put him in a position where he's recruiting with an arm tied behind his back -- that's no good for anyone.
I suppose there's a chance Jones's contract situation could be addressed before the season. Certainly you'd think Jones and his agent, Trace Armstrong, would like it to be, but it'll be interesting to see what happens. I can't speak to if there have been any discussions about it.
Perhaps the best-case scenario for both sides is a one-year extension with minimal changes to the financials, but who knows how feasible that is.
Amid the perception (or reality?) this is a make-or-break year, recruiting seems to be going well right for the Vols, and Jones has a handful of new coaches on his staff he can sell as changes made to fix what went wrong in 2016.
John Currie really hasn't said much about his thoughts on Jones since taking over as Tennessee's athletic director, so it's hard to get a feel on where he is on the football coach he's inheriting.
