Butch Jones Gets It

With less than a week to go before the University of Tennessee kicks off its 117th football season, everyone wants to know how good this team will play. I wish I could tell you. This year’s Vols are a huge question mark. What I can tell you is that Butch Jones, the new UT head football coach, gets it. Don’t get me wrong, I was skeptical. I wanted a bigger name at such a tedious crossroads in Big Orange football. Let’s face it. If the program doesn’t turn around soon it could be difficult to ever fix. That’s not hyperbole. It’s the reality of the South Eastern Conference. Fortunately, Butch Jones gets it, and I’m not worried at all.

Butch gets the tradition associated with UT football. He has players study those who wore their numbers. He teaches them about Tennessee’s past. He even has the players do presentations of General Neyland’s game maxims. Yeah, Butch Jones gets it.

Butch also gets the importance of disciplined play and imposing your will on an opponent. He teaches his players to run on and off the field. He challenges them to stand tough and fight through everything he can think to throw at them from crying babies to bull in the ring drills. He preaches that football is about taking a team’s soul, one play at a time, until you still stand and they quit. Butch Jones gets it.

Butch gets recruiting as well. He and his coaching staff are relentlessly on the recruiting trail. They bring kids to camp. They forge relationships with parents and coaches. They market their program, and it is paying off. Butch has the number one ranked recruiting class in some servers and top five consensus. Butch Jones gets it.

And when it comes to excitement, Butch gets that as well. He is rebranding the Vols. Whether it is “brick by brick,” “rise to the top,” “foundation day” or nifty smokey gray uniforms, the new head coach creates a buzz and a memory. Butch Jones gets it.

Now I don’t know how all these things will impact this football season. Perhaps they will lead to a whirlwind of immediate success. Perhaps the seeds won’t grow till the next season and Vol fans will suffer through another tough year. But if suffering is the fate of this football season for Big Orange followers, then be patient. The suffering will end. Why? Because Butch Jones gets it!