Originally posted by Sommy:
Wiley - do expand on your butch comments. Other than getting in Brian Kelly's leftover players why is he so bad?
I see you've read my previous criticism's of him. I basically just don't feel like he ever proved himself enough to truly deserve the jobs he has gotten, particularly the Tennessee job. He's done nothing but ride Kelly's coattail. He's never built a program that's been in the dumps. Instead he's been hired by CMU and Cincy and put in situations where all he had to do was not F it up. You or I could have probably managed those programs at that point to be brutally honest. Brian Kelly left a gold mine at both CMU and Cincy.
I still remember when he was being considered for the Central Michigan job after Brian Kelly left and somehow got it and took his players and won. He had a good overall record at CMU but I feel like he could've done more with the players he inherited. It's hard not to fvck it up when you've got Dan LeFevour as your QB (I know you guys remember this kid) in his prime. We played against him when he was a freshmen and the kid only got better. When he was hired at CMU he was basically put into a "Don't F it up" position. Most new coaches that are hired inherit a mess, Butch Jones was hired and had the best team in the league. He basically left the entire staff in place that Kelly didn't take...So I guess good job to him for not F'ing it up? Kelly's the one who came in there and turned a TERRIBLE program around. Winning 4, 6, and then 9 games including the bowl win over Mid Tenn St. He recruited all those studs that Butch went and won with.
I certainly didn't think he had proven himself enough to get the Cincinatti job, but many coaches have been hired into BCS-level schools who weren't entirely deserving and sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn't. So once again Butch replaced Brian Kelly, this time at Cincy. At Cincinatti, he had one bad year and two decent years (4 wins, 10 wins, 9 wins). He was 23-14 at Cincy. Considering the conference was very top heavy at the time, I feel like he could have done better there as well. It was another situation for Butch Jones had to just avoid screwing up a good thing. Brian Kelly went 34-6 while at Cincinatti before being hired away. That's what I call proving oneself and being worthy of a high level multi-million dollar deal. I would have liked to see him stay another year or two at Cincy before being hired away but Tennessee didn't want to wait. Of course he wasn't UTK's first choice (understandably so considering he's unqualified) and was more like 3rd, 4th, and possibly 5th on down the line.
In the end, anything was better than Derek Dooley, but they could have done so much better. In addition to not earning the CMU and Cincy jobs, he sure as F has not earned his contract extensions and buyouts at Tennessee. He's 11-13 since being there.....Why in god's name are their fans so obsessed over a mediocre coach? Because he has passion?? Millions of dollars worth of passion? They just gave a coach with a losing record, 11-13 in two years, a huge extension while a decade earlier they fired Phillip Fulmer who had been there 18 years, won a national title, and was far better in his final two seasons than any other coach they've fired (15-11). Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Butch Jones was a great hire for UTK if you're a Middle fan and only care about Middle, but good lord I
ALMOST feel sorry for the UTK fans after the constant hiring of failures.
ps. What's with all these mediocre coaches getting crazy extensions and contracts?