Full article here: https://orangeandwhitereport.com/the-voice-of-reason-has-died-329058ad089d#.tp6p269oh
Key Excerpt (Read below for context before flaming):
"But the man ultimately responsible for all these ongoing disasters is Butch Jones. As the head coach, he should have been able to see after the Appalachian State game that his coordinators scheme for Team 120 weren’t a good fit for the athletes on the field. Everyone else did, from football experts to media pundits to Vol Twitter. And while a come from behind win is always exciting, after six of them didn’t he stop to wonder why those late game theatrics were even necessary?"
Text of Article:
"All this season, I have endeavored to be a voice of reason. The pen really is mightier than the sword, and writers have a obligation to wield that weapon responsibly. The media can both create opinions and change them. And while most of the local media and a big section of the fan base have been outraged throughout the season, I’ve tried to keep a level head. So I’ve never even entertained the thought of joining the “Fire Butch” segment of the UT population, not because I’ve been overjoyed at how the season was going but because I know that firing Butch Jones was a bad idea for both external and internal reasons.
Several huge money programs are conducting coach searches. Tennessee, already searching for a new athletic director, cannot compete with Notre Dame or Texas money. Losing half of the team’s two-deep roster was a crippling blow. Before the season, most Vols fans said UT had to beat Florida — which they did. And as long as the season was an improvement over the last one, I was willing to trust to offseason adjustments to correct the glaring flaws within the program.
A lot of things changed on Saturday night.
Before the season, Bob Shoop was probably the most hyped assistant coach hire in the nation. He was brought to UT to beat Florida and to get the Vols to the SEC Championship game. From what I’ve seen throughout the rest of the regular season, once the Florida game was won Shoop apparently stopped working. The Vols’ defense began to tank, and he seemed unable to figure out a way to stop the dominos from falling over. His secondary was relatively unaffected by injury, and Shoop’s overly aggressive play calling consistently left big swaths of the field exposed. How is it possible that Shoop was successful at Vanderbilt and Penn State with inferior talent, then came to Tennessee and was directly responsible for two huge losses to barely .500 teams with the talent at his disposal? Shoop prepared the team to stop Vandy running back Ralph Webb, and in the process allowed a sophomore with less than mediocre numbers on the season throw for over 400 yards and didn’t make adjustments.
Doesn’t make sense.
Offensively, Mike DeBord must be, has to be done. His offensive scheme went completely against the talents and inherent skill sets of our players. Josh Dobbs was bottled up, trapped in the pocket and discouraged to use his greatest athletic abilities to their fullest. Jalen Hurd got almost all the touches, keeping Alvin Kamara trapped as a second option when he obviously should have been THE guy. And let’s be frank — what competent OC approaches 4th and less than a yard with the QB in the shotgun? With Josh Dobbs at quarterback?
But the man ultimately responsible for all these ongoing disasters is Butch Jones. As the head coach, he should have been able to see after the Appalachian State game that his coordinators scheme for Team 120 weren’t a good fit for the athletes on the field. Everyone else did, from football experts to media pundits to Vol Twitter. And while a come from behind win is always exciting, after six of them didn’t he stop to wonder why those late game theatrics were even necessary?
Hindsight is 20/20, but a football season is an ongoing process. The team is supposed to improve and strengthen as the season progresses, not go in the opposite direction.
I have to reiterate once more that Tennessee should not hop onto the head coaching carousel this year. If Tennessee fires Butch Jones, they will be set back five years almost without a doubt. The candidates fans are lusting after will go somewhere with more money on the table. And no, Peyton Manning and Jon Gruden aren’t coming to coach Tennessee, no matter how much some fans may fantasize about that. So we have to ask ourselves — what are UT’s options?
Six hours ago, Tennessee was looking at a potential ten-win season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.
The Volunteers are about to fall out of the polls, get a lame bowl bid, and send our seniors out into the world as the VFLs who were supposed to win the SEC East, challenge for the SEC championship, and potentially go to Tampa — but didn’t. They’re now the seniors who beat Florida and Georgia, but lost to Vanderbilt and South Carolina and didn’t make it to Atlanta, much less the Final Four. All their lofty goals have fallen into the dust, but that dust didn’t happen tonight in Nashville.
No, that happened the first week in September, in Knoxville, when the seeds of disaster were sown into the new turf of Neyland Stadium. When Butch Jones failed to acknowledge that both his coordinators had devised the worst possible overall schemes for this team, he unwittingly enabled the catastrophe that followed.
Sure. An 8–4 season isn’t horrible. The good Lord knows Vol Nation has seen many 8–4 seasons in the past, and older fans can tell you that there have been disappointing seasons under Phil Fulmer and Johnny Majors and Doug Dickey as well. Seasons where the Vols lost to teams they shouldn’t have, or got to the championship ranked in the top five and lost to an inferior team, or lost so many players to injury the team couldn’t even limp along.
But that was then. This is a different time, a different kind of world. This is an age of instant gratification, as Charlie Strong discovered when he got fired by Texas on Saturday and his replacement was hired and announced within a couple of hours. And in this era, for this team to be 8–4 is unacceptable even to those of us who were in Neyland in the days when Coach Majors and Coach Fulmer both were on the sideline. Team 120 lost three games they should have won.
Regardless of the anger and disappointment on the part of Tennessee fans, this still may not be the time to fire Butch Jones and jump into a coach search. I’m sticking to that, even though right now I’m very close to throwing that little bone on the fire. But Tennessee absolutely must revamp its assistant coaching staff, find an elite strength and conditioning coach, and restructure the play book to reflect the strengths of our athletes.
And Coach Jones needs to face this fan base and take responsibility for his own failures this season — and outline how he plans to correct them. That admission has to be non-negotiable.
I’m older than the rest of the Orange & White Report staff. In fact, several of these writers and editors are younger than my daughters. I remember the end of the Dickey tenure, the Majors tenure, and the Fulmer tenure. I also remember that neither Johnny or Phil won the SEC or even the East in their first four years at Tennessee. That’s why I, and other older VFLs, are cautioning Vol Nation to think very hard before undergoing an effort to have Butch Jones fired.
We know what that will lead to, especially without an athletic director already selected, and it’s not what we’d wish for this program that has literally been resurrected from the dual Kiffin/Dooley disasters.
But I, at least, agree that if Butch Jones stays in Knoxville, it cannot be with the same coaching staff. And while Bob Shoop might merit another chance (if he stays at UT), the same cannot be said of Mike DeBord…or O-Line coach Don Mahoney. Tennessee cannot promote some GA to the strength and conditioning position either.
I’m not sure if Butch Jones can regain the confidence of the fans, but if he intends to try, these are necessary first steps on that path.
And in the meantime, just looking at the seniors who have absolutely given their all for Tennessee since the first days they stepped on campus is an image that’s hard to shake. If they’d been provided with the support they needed to thrive, this wouldn’t have been a season where all they could do on the field was to try to find a way to survive.
Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt. You have got to be kidding me.
Butch Jones must hold himself and his staff accountable. And so, too, must Vol Nation. And if he does not?
Then the University of Tennessee must.
Regardless of what happens next, one thing is for certain. The voice of reason died on the field inside Vanderbilt Stadium. Not because of what anyone else is saying, but because of what just happened on the field. This loss is indefensible. What that may betoken for Tennessee football doesn’t require reason.
Just action."
Key Excerpt (Read below for context before flaming):
"But the man ultimately responsible for all these ongoing disasters is Butch Jones. As the head coach, he should have been able to see after the Appalachian State game that his coordinators scheme for Team 120 weren’t a good fit for the athletes on the field. Everyone else did, from football experts to media pundits to Vol Twitter. And while a come from behind win is always exciting, after six of them didn’t he stop to wonder why those late game theatrics were even necessary?"
Text of Article:
"All this season, I have endeavored to be a voice of reason. The pen really is mightier than the sword, and writers have a obligation to wield that weapon responsibly. The media can both create opinions and change them. And while most of the local media and a big section of the fan base have been outraged throughout the season, I’ve tried to keep a level head. So I’ve never even entertained the thought of joining the “Fire Butch” segment of the UT population, not because I’ve been overjoyed at how the season was going but because I know that firing Butch Jones was a bad idea for both external and internal reasons.
Several huge money programs are conducting coach searches. Tennessee, already searching for a new athletic director, cannot compete with Notre Dame or Texas money. Losing half of the team’s two-deep roster was a crippling blow. Before the season, most Vols fans said UT had to beat Florida — which they did. And as long as the season was an improvement over the last one, I was willing to trust to offseason adjustments to correct the glaring flaws within the program.
A lot of things changed on Saturday night.
Before the season, Bob Shoop was probably the most hyped assistant coach hire in the nation. He was brought to UT to beat Florida and to get the Vols to the SEC Championship game. From what I’ve seen throughout the rest of the regular season, once the Florida game was won Shoop apparently stopped working. The Vols’ defense began to tank, and he seemed unable to figure out a way to stop the dominos from falling over. His secondary was relatively unaffected by injury, and Shoop’s overly aggressive play calling consistently left big swaths of the field exposed. How is it possible that Shoop was successful at Vanderbilt and Penn State with inferior talent, then came to Tennessee and was directly responsible for two huge losses to barely .500 teams with the talent at his disposal? Shoop prepared the team to stop Vandy running back Ralph Webb, and in the process allowed a sophomore with less than mediocre numbers on the season throw for over 400 yards and didn’t make adjustments.
Doesn’t make sense.
Offensively, Mike DeBord must be, has to be done. His offensive scheme went completely against the talents and inherent skill sets of our players. Josh Dobbs was bottled up, trapped in the pocket and discouraged to use his greatest athletic abilities to their fullest. Jalen Hurd got almost all the touches, keeping Alvin Kamara trapped as a second option when he obviously should have been THE guy. And let’s be frank — what competent OC approaches 4th and less than a yard with the QB in the shotgun? With Josh Dobbs at quarterback?
But the man ultimately responsible for all these ongoing disasters is Butch Jones. As the head coach, he should have been able to see after the Appalachian State game that his coordinators scheme for Team 120 weren’t a good fit for the athletes on the field. Everyone else did, from football experts to media pundits to Vol Twitter. And while a come from behind win is always exciting, after six of them didn’t he stop to wonder why those late game theatrics were even necessary?
Hindsight is 20/20, but a football season is an ongoing process. The team is supposed to improve and strengthen as the season progresses, not go in the opposite direction.
I have to reiterate once more that Tennessee should not hop onto the head coaching carousel this year. If Tennessee fires Butch Jones, they will be set back five years almost without a doubt. The candidates fans are lusting after will go somewhere with more money on the table. And no, Peyton Manning and Jon Gruden aren’t coming to coach Tennessee, no matter how much some fans may fantasize about that. So we have to ask ourselves — what are UT’s options?
Six hours ago, Tennessee was looking at a potential ten-win season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.
The Volunteers are about to fall out of the polls, get a lame bowl bid, and send our seniors out into the world as the VFLs who were supposed to win the SEC East, challenge for the SEC championship, and potentially go to Tampa — but didn’t. They’re now the seniors who beat Florida and Georgia, but lost to Vanderbilt and South Carolina and didn’t make it to Atlanta, much less the Final Four. All their lofty goals have fallen into the dust, but that dust didn’t happen tonight in Nashville.
No, that happened the first week in September, in Knoxville, when the seeds of disaster were sown into the new turf of Neyland Stadium. When Butch Jones failed to acknowledge that both his coordinators had devised the worst possible overall schemes for this team, he unwittingly enabled the catastrophe that followed.
Sure. An 8–4 season isn’t horrible. The good Lord knows Vol Nation has seen many 8–4 seasons in the past, and older fans can tell you that there have been disappointing seasons under Phil Fulmer and Johnny Majors and Doug Dickey as well. Seasons where the Vols lost to teams they shouldn’t have, or got to the championship ranked in the top five and lost to an inferior team, or lost so many players to injury the team couldn’t even limp along.
But that was then. This is a different time, a different kind of world. This is an age of instant gratification, as Charlie Strong discovered when he got fired by Texas on Saturday and his replacement was hired and announced within a couple of hours. And in this era, for this team to be 8–4 is unacceptable even to those of us who were in Neyland in the days when Coach Majors and Coach Fulmer both were on the sideline. Team 120 lost three games they should have won.
Regardless of the anger and disappointment on the part of Tennessee fans, this still may not be the time to fire Butch Jones and jump into a coach search. I’m sticking to that, even though right now I’m very close to throwing that little bone on the fire. But Tennessee absolutely must revamp its assistant coaching staff, find an elite strength and conditioning coach, and restructure the play book to reflect the strengths of our athletes.
And Coach Jones needs to face this fan base and take responsibility for his own failures this season — and outline how he plans to correct them. That admission has to be non-negotiable.
I’m older than the rest of the Orange & White Report staff. In fact, several of these writers and editors are younger than my daughters. I remember the end of the Dickey tenure, the Majors tenure, and the Fulmer tenure. I also remember that neither Johnny or Phil won the SEC or even the East in their first four years at Tennessee. That’s why I, and other older VFLs, are cautioning Vol Nation to think very hard before undergoing an effort to have Butch Jones fired.
We know what that will lead to, especially without an athletic director already selected, and it’s not what we’d wish for this program that has literally been resurrected from the dual Kiffin/Dooley disasters.
But I, at least, agree that if Butch Jones stays in Knoxville, it cannot be with the same coaching staff. And while Bob Shoop might merit another chance (if he stays at UT), the same cannot be said of Mike DeBord…or O-Line coach Don Mahoney. Tennessee cannot promote some GA to the strength and conditioning position either.
I’m not sure if Butch Jones can regain the confidence of the fans, but if he intends to try, these are necessary first steps on that path.
And in the meantime, just looking at the seniors who have absolutely given their all for Tennessee since the first days they stepped on campus is an image that’s hard to shake. If they’d been provided with the support they needed to thrive, this wouldn’t have been a season where all they could do on the field was to try to find a way to survive.
Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt. You have got to be kidding me.
Butch Jones must hold himself and his staff accountable. And so, too, must Vol Nation. And if he does not?
Then the University of Tennessee must.
Regardless of what happens next, one thing is for certain. The voice of reason died on the field inside Vanderbilt Stadium. Not because of what anyone else is saying, but because of what just happened on the field. This loss is indefensible. What that may betoken for Tennessee football doesn’t require reason.
Just action."
