University of Tennessee Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Head Coach
THE JONES FILE
Personal Information
Born: Jan. 17, 1968
Hometown: Saugatuck, Mich.
Education: Ferris State, 1990
Wife: Barb
Children: Alex, Adam, Andrew
Coaching Experience
- 2012-present:
Tennessee, head coach - 2010-12:
Cincinnati, head coach - 2007-09:
Central Michigan, head coach - 2005-06:
West Virginia, wide receivers - 2004:
Central Michigan, running backs - 2001-03:
Central Michigan, offensive coordinator - 2000:
Central Michigan, running backs - 1999:
Central Michigan, wide receivers - 1998:
Central Michigan, tight ends - 1996-97:
Ferris State, offensive coordinator - 1995:
Ferris State, running backs - 1993-94:
Wilkes Univ, offensive coordinator - 1990-92:
Rutgers, graduate assistant - 1987-89:
Tampa Bay (NFL), intern
Head Coaching Record
| Year | Team | Record | Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Central Michigan | 8-6 | 6-1 (1st) |
| 2008 | Central Michigan | 8-5 | 6-2 (t-2nd) |
| 2009 | Central Michigan | 11-2 | 8-0 (1st) |
| 2010 | Cincinnati | 4-8 | 2-5 (7th) |
| 2011 | Cincinnati | 10-3 | 5-2 (t-1st) |
| 2012 | Cincinnati | 9-3 | 5-2 (t-1st) |
| 2013 | Tennessee | 5-7 | 2-6 (6th) |
| 2014 | Tennessee | 7-6 | 3-5 (4th) |
| 2015 | Tennessee | 9-4 | 5-3 (t-4th) |
| 2016 | Tennessee | 9-4 | 4-4 (t-5th) |
| Totals | 80-48 | 46-30 |
Butch Jones enters his fifth season at Tennessee and his 11th season overall as a head coach in 2017 with a résumé that not only places him among the top coaches in the Southeastern Conference, but also the entire country.
Jones’ teams have won four conference championships, advanced to eight bowls and finished in the Top 25 five times during his 10 seasons as a head coach at Tennessee, Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Along the way, Jones has coached six All-Americans, 76 all-conference selections and 21 NFL Draft picks, including the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver Antonio Brown, and Tennessee’s most recent first-round pick, Derek Barnett, who was selected at No. 14 by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017. Jones holds an 80-48 record (.625) in 10 seasons as a head coach.
Tennessee is one of just three SEC teams to win at least nine games the last two seasons and one of just nine teams in the nation to win bowl games in three consecutive seasons heading into the fall. Momentum continues to build on Rocky Top under Jones as the charismatic leader has pushed the Vols to a 30-21 mark and three straight winning seasons for the first time in 12 years, while instilling a championship culture back to a program that had recorded just one winning season in the previous five years when he took over Tennessee prior to the 2013 campaign.
Faced with a rebuild when he was announced as the new head coach on Dec. 7, 2012, Jones has remodeled the Vols “brick by brick” into a consistent winner in his own image, as a passionate, competitive and consistent band of brothers, working tirelessly to bring Tennessee back to the top of the SEC.
Jones also has made developing men off the field a top priority at Tennessee and throughout his career. He has coached 203 academic all-conference award winners, including 109 SEC academic honor roll recipients at Tennessee. Under Jones, every academic record in Tennessee football history has been broken and 84 Vols have earned degrees. In 2016, three Vols collected Academic All-District honors, while every senior on the 2016 team graduated with a degree. Last spring, Joshua Dobbs received the Torchbearer Award for 2016-17 – the highest honor given to a student at the University of Tennessee in recognition of their accomplishments in the community and academics. Additionally, 67 student-athletes earned Vol Scholar designation in 2016-17 for having a 3.0 GPA. UT football has achieved its highest-ever GPA, single-year and multi-year APR, and Graduation Success Rate during Jones’ first four years at the helm. Over the last two seasons, 26 Vols have played in bowl games as college graduates.
A two-time BIG EAST Coach of the Year, Jones took over a program that hadn’t won a bowl game since 2007. Jones’ Vols have won three consecutive bowl games for the first time in over 20 years (1994-95-96) and have brought back-to-back nine-win seasons to Rocky Top for the first time in nearly a decade. Entering the 2017 season, the Vols own a 15-4 mark in their last 19 games, which is the second-best mark in the SEC.
Jones joined UT from the University of Cincinnati, where he finished with a 23-14 record (.657) in three seasons with the Bearcats. Jones was also the head coach for three years at Central Michigan (27-13, .675, from 2007-09). He has won at least eight games in seven of his 10 years as a head coach, including five seasons of nine-plus wins (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016). Jones has won 10 or more games twice, finishing 11-2 at CMU in 2009 and posting a 10-3 record with Cincinnati in 2011. He has led teams to four conference championships in his 10 seasons as a head coach, including the Big East title in 2011 and 2012 with Cincinnati and the 2007 and 2009 Mid-American Conference titles at Central Michigan.
In 2016, the Vols finished in the Top 25 (CFP No. 21, AP No. 22, Coaches No. 24) for the second straight season. Led by Dobbs at quarterback, the Vols put together the most prolific offense in Big Orange history. Jones’ explosive offense set a new school record for points scored (473), while piling up 5,768 yards of total offense – the second-most in Tennessee history. UT had the SEC’s second-best scoring offense at 36.3 points per game. Barnett totaled an SEC-best 13.0 sacks en route to consensus All-America accolades and broke Reggie White’s career sack record with 33.0. Barnett, Dobbs and kick returner Evan Berry collected All-SEC honors.
UT’s 2016 season featured a pair of thrilling comeback wins over conference foes Florida and Georgia as well as a 45-24 victory over Virginia Tech in front of an NCAA football attendance record 156,990 fans at the inaugural Battle of Bristol held at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 10. The three victories were part of UT’s first 5-0 start since 1998 and included consecutive victories over ranked teams for the first time since 1999. The Vols had 17 different starters miss a game due to injury and lost five defensive players to season-ending injuries. UT finished with a 6-1 record at home, the best record by the Vols since 2007. Tennessee capped the season by defeating Nebraska in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl – the third straight bowl win for the Vols.
Jones’ fourth Tennessee team found additional success following the season when six Vols were selected in the 2017 NFL Draft in the spring. At No. 14, Barnett became the highest drafted Vol since Eric Berry (No. 5) in 2010 and UT had its most players drafted in the first four rounds since 2002 as all six Vols were selected before the start of the fifth round. In addition to Barnett, who became the UT’s 46th first-round pick all-time, Alvin Kamara (third round, No. 67, New Orleans Saints), Cameron Sutton (third round, No. 94, Pittsburgh Steelers), Jalen Reeves-Maybin (fourth round, No. 124, Detroit Lions), Josh Malone (fourth round, No. 128, Cincinnati Bengals) and Dobbs, (fourth round, No. 135, Steelers) were all selected in the draft.
Jones led the Vols to a 9-4 record in 2015, marking Tennessee’s best season since 2007. The Vols finished the season on a six-game winning streak – the Vols’ longest winning streak since 2003. Tennessee closed the 2015 season with a 45-6 victory over No. 13 Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. It was Tennessee’s largest margin of victory in its storied bowl history. UT finished the season ranked No. 22 in the final AP Poll and No. 23 in the Coaches Poll.
In 2015, Tennessee had one of the nation’s top rushing attacks. The Vols ranked 20th in the nation and second in the SEC with 2,908 rushing yards, the second-most in Tennessee history. The Vols also had arguably the nation’s top special teams unit. The Big Orange led the nation in kickoff return average (33.41) and ranked fourth in punt return average (17.2). All-American Evan Berry was the country’s top kick returner (38.3 average) and he was just one of four players that season with three kickoff return touchdowns. Fellow All-American Sutton led all punt returners with an 18.7-yard average and was one of 11 players with two brought back for touchdowns. Punter Trevor Daniel ranked eighth in the nation and second in the SEC with a 45.7-yard average. The Vols’ defense led the SEC and ranked second nationally with a .276 opposing third-down conversion percentage, too.
In 2014, Tennessee finished its second season under Jones with a 7-6 record that included a 45-28 win over Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville which marked the first January bowl game for UT since the 2007 season. The Vols opened the 2014 season by playing 21 true freshmen in a 38-7 win over Utah State, the most true freshmen to play in a season opener in UT history. Overall, Tennessee led the nation overall with 23 true freshman playing in 2014, including 12 true freshmen who started games. Tennessee’s win over South Carolina in 2014 marked one of the biggest comebacks in school history as the Vols trailed by 14 with less that two minutes remaining. Also in 2014, the 95 combined points against South Carolina (45) and Kentucky (50) were the most for Tennessee in consecutive games since 2003, while the 50 points and the 34-point margin of victory over Kentucky (50-16) were the most for UT since 2010.
Jones was named the 24th head football coach in Tennessee history on Dec. 7, 2012, and finished with a 5-7 record during his first season, laying the foundation for future success. In his first season on Rocky Top, the Vols defeated No. 11/9 South Carolina, the first win for UT over a ranked opponent since 2009.
UT rushed for 2,261 yards in 2013, the most for the Vols at the time since 2004 and their second-highest total since 1999. The Vols’ opportunistic defense in 2013 forced 25 turnovers, tied for the second-most by a UT defense since 2005. UT also played the toughest schedule in the nation in 2013, facing seven ranked teams. Led by first-round selection Ja’Wuan James (No. 19, Miami Dolphins), three Vols were picked in the 2014 NFL Draft following the season.
Jones and his staff have been relentless on the recruiting trail since arriving in Knoxville. Under Jones’ leadership, Tennessee’s recruiting class has finished among the top SEC schools each year, including national Top 5 classes in 2014 and 2015. In 2017, the Vols claimed their fourth consecutive Top 15 recruiting class, highlighted by early enrollee and ESPN’s No. 1 prospect Trey Smith. Jones has recruited players with the ability to make an immediate impact as evidenced by six Vols collecting freshmen All-America honors from 2013-15.
Off the field, Jones recognizes the importance of academics and life skills development. Tennessee has broken every academic record under Jones. Twenty-seven Vols collected SEC Academic Honor Roll honors in 2016, following 34 Vols who earned the distinction in 2015. Sixty-seven Vols were named Vol Scholars (3.0 GPA or above) in 2016, while 69 Vols grabbed the same honor in 2015. Jones’ teams posted the best APR scores in program history in each of his first two semesters as head coach, including a perfect 1000 score in Spring 2013 and no eligibility points lost in either semester.
Prior to joining Tennessee, Jones had successful three-year stints as the head coach at Cincinnati and Central Michigan.
He earned Big East Conference Coach of the Year honors after his 10-win season with the Bearcats in 2011 and earned the same honor from CBSSports.com in 2012, a year in which his squad captured its second consecutive bowl victory and finished in the Top 25. UC finished the regular season 9-3 with a 5-2 league record to share the Big East crown.
In 2011, Cincinnati was the only program nationally to win both its conference title and its league top academic honor, earning the 2010-11 Big East Team Academic Excellence Award, with JK Schaffer being named the 2011 American Eagle Outfitters Big East Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the second consecutive UC player to earn that honor (John Goebel in 2010).5. UC finished the regular season 9-3 with a 5-2 league record to share the Big East crown.
The 2011 UC team was the most improved team from a BCS conference, finishing 10-3 and six wins better than the 4-8 finish in 2010. Cincinnati also recorded its first bowl win over a BCS opponent, defeating Vanderbilt 31-24 in the Liberty Bowl. UC placed eight players on the All-Big East Conference team from 2011-12, including Big East Offensive Player of the Year Isaiah Pead and Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year Derek Wolfe in 2011.
Before accepting the head coaching position at Cincinnati, Jones’s 27-13 record at Central Michigan included a pair of MAC titles, three consecutive bowl appearances, and a No. 23 postseason ranking in 2009. The Chippewas were 22-3 in the MAC during his tenure, and he was the only head coach to lead the program to consecutive bowl games as well as the first in the history of the MAC to do so in his first three seasons.
In addition to Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown, Jones also recruited and coached offensive lineman Eric Fisher at CMU. Fisher was drafted No. 1 overall in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. Joining Fisher in Kansas City was another Jones product, Travis Kelce, who was selected in the third round after playing at Cincinnati. Jones was the wide receivers coach at West Virginia from 2005-06 before he moved to Central Michigan, during which time the Mountaineers went a combined 22-3, including a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. He served as an assistant at Central Michigan for seven years from 1998-2004, as offensive coordinator (2002-04), running backs coach (1999-2004), and as tight ends coach (1998). Jones was also the offensive coordinator at Ferris State from 1995-97 and at Wilkes University from 1993-94 and also served as an assistant at Rutgers from 1990-92.
Jones is a 1990 graduate of Ferris State University in Michigan, where he was a two-year letterman on the football team. His original entry into the coaching ranks was as an intern with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1987-89. Jones and his wife, Barb, are the parents of three sons: Alex (21), Adam (16), and Andrew (10).
