Can Butch Jones take Tennessee to the Top of the SEC?

The Tennessee Volunteers are arguably one of the most popular teams in college football. The Tennessee orange. The orange and white checkered endzone. Their mascot Smokey. Anyone who knows college football knows about the Tennessee Volunteers. However, being in the SEC, Tennessee has been stuck in the shadows of teams like Alabama, Florida, LSU, Auburn and others for quite some time. The last time that Tennessee won the National Championship was in 1998, when under Phillip Fulmer they beat the Florida State Seminoles in the first ever BCS Title Game.

Tennessee fans, players and alumni have been waiting anxiously to see their Volunteers fight back to the top of the SEC, and not only bring the SEC Championship home, but also bring another National Championship to Neyland Stadium.

Butch Jones has been coaching in the NCAA since 1990, where he was a defensive assistant at Rutgers. In 1992 Jones left Rutgers to become offensive coordinator for Wilkes. He was at Wilkes from 1992 to 1994, when he left for his alma mater Ferris State. There he assumed the same role he did at Wilkes.

In 1998 Butch found himself at Central Michigan University, where he'd move from coaching tight ends to running backs, and eventually become offensive coordinator from 2002 to 2004. Rich Rodriguez then brought Jones to West Virginia where he coached the wide receivers.

After two successful years at West Virginia, Butch got hired back to Central Michigan but this time as the head coach. There he led the Chippewas to an overall record of 27-13 over three years, and two MAC Championships. In 2010 Butch became the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. In Cincinnati, Butch started off slow with a 4-8 record. In 2011 he improved to 10-3 and led the Bearcats to a Liberty Bowl victory over Vanderbilt, as well as a Big East Championship. In 2012 Butch led the Bearcats to a similar ending to the season, ending with a 9-3 record and another Big East Championship.

After much success at Cincinnati, on December 7, 2012 Butch announced that he was leaving Cincinnati and the Big East for Tennessee and the SEC.

The SEC will definitely bring quite a bit of competition Butch's way. He faced some top opponents while being the head coach at CMU and Cincinnati, but in the SEC he will consistantly face top opponents.

Tennessee has been waiting for a coach to bring them the success that they have been expecting, and Butch Jones can definitely be the coach to bring them that success. With an overall head coaching record of 50-27, he is not someone to be taken lightly. Granted teams like Alabama and LSU seem to be fine oiled machines that can't seem to lose, Tennessee has an overall record of 799–354–53. They more often see victories than defeats, and that's something that they'd like to see continue. I feel that Butch Jones is a man that will strive to lead Tennessee to continue improving that record, and to eventually get them the recruits and players good enough to not only become a top ten team, but to once again become National Champions.

- Jackson McNamara

@jacksonmcnamara