Tennessee fires Butch Jones

Like their rivals in Gainesville, the Tennessee Volunteers will be looking for a new head coach this offseason. The Vols have fired Butch Jones, per Bruce Feldman.

With Tennessee moving to 0-6 in SEC play last night against Mizzou, this was surely inevitable. Butch Jones was almost certain to be let go, and it became a matter of “when” and not “if” along the way. That Jones’ recruiting didn’t match the results that were on the field ultimately was his undoing at Knoxville. And that recruiting taking hits over the past few weeks did not help his cause at all.

After arriving at Tennessee in 2013, Jones amassed a record of 30-21 and 14-18 in SEC play. The Vols never finished with an SEC record better than 5-3 under Jones, and are still looking for their first trip back to Atlanta since 2007, something they probably should’ve done given the talent disparity between them and the Florida Gators. The Georgia Bulldogs got in their way a few times, but even they went through their share of ups and downs.

There’s no telling who will be the next coach of Tennessee quite yet. You’ll hear the #GRUMORS, for sure, but whether or not Jon Gruden actually comes to Knoxville is yet to be seen. We’ll have more on this as it comes by. No interim coach has been named yet.

UPDATE: Tennessee has named an interim. It’s Brady Hoke. Yes, that one.