I'm not a Butch apologist. All those that called me an UGA Homer when I criticised the hire will attest to that. I just thought it was interesting to hear one of his players say why he thought Butch was no longer the Vols coach.
Rewind back to 2015. The Vols beat UGa. They beat SC. They beat Ky and Vandy by 25-30 points. They beat the #12 team in the country by 39 in a bowl game. They seemed to be on the verge of taking the next step. Some argued they should have taken that step this season.
A 2OT loss to Oklahoma, a 3 pt loss to UF, 4 pt loss to Arky and a 5 pt loss to Bama all haunted Jones. But rather than take responsibility for being too conservative, he panicked.
He blamed the defense. He blamed conditioning. In a bold move the fired his DC and his S&C coach. His S&C coach had been with him since 2007.
He said this was the beginning of the end for Jones. Jancek with his guys was better than Shoop with Jancek's guys. It just didn't work. S&C took a major step backwards. Teams had told the players on the 2015 squad that they were the most physical team they played that year. He said had Jones not made these two moves he'd still be at UT.
Rewind back to 2015. The Vols beat UGa. They beat SC. They beat Ky and Vandy by 25-30 points. They beat the #12 team in the country by 39 in a bowl game. They seemed to be on the verge of taking the next step. Some argued they should have taken that step this season.
A 2OT loss to Oklahoma, a 3 pt loss to UF, 4 pt loss to Arky and a 5 pt loss to Bama all haunted Jones. But rather than take responsibility for being too conservative, he panicked.
He blamed the defense. He blamed conditioning. In a bold move the fired his DC and his S&C coach. His S&C coach had been with him since 2007.
He said this was the beginning of the end for Jones. Jancek with his guys was better than Shoop with Jancek's guys. It just didn't work. S&C took a major step backwards. Teams had told the players on the 2015 squad that they were the most physical team they played that year. He said had Jones not made these two moves he'd still be at UT.