Below is a chart of offense, defense and total production of the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program during Jones' tenure as head football coach, along with who would be the lowest ranked team during this time period (in purple) and the average team (sky blue). As you may notice, after two seasons of improvement, Tennessee's productivity has dropped dramatically during the last two seasons, with this season the Volunteers being one of the bottom 20 teams in all of the FBS. All rankings in this blog come from my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. More details about the program under Jones are after the chart below, including a link to his employment contract are below.
Butch Jones [2013 - 2017*]
2013
The Volunteers were 5-7 during the regular season under Jones' first year at the helm of the football program and bowl ineligible. Tennessee played against a "tougher" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that their SOS was between one and two standard deviations below the "league" average SOS. The Volunteers best game again was their victory over #14 ranked South Carolina (23-21) and their worst loss was to #79 ranked Florida (17-31). Tennessee had the #91 ranked team in total production with the #91 ranked offense and the #85 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2014
Tennessee finished the regular season at 6-6 under Jones' second year at the helm of the football program (bowl eligible), and defeated #47 Iowa (45-28) in their post-season bowl game to finish 7-6 overall. The Volunteers played against a "tougher" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Volunteers best game again was their victory over #32 ranked Utah State (38-7) and their worst loss was again to #38 ranked Florida (9-10). Tennessee had the #63 ranked team in total production with the #64 ranked offense and the #52 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2015
The Volunteers were 8-4 during the regular season under Jones' third year at the helm of the football program (bowl eligible), and defeated by #64 ranked Northwestern in their post-season bowl game by a score of (45-6). Tennessee played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that their SOS was plus or minus standard deviation of the "league" average SOS. The Volunteers best game again was their victory over #13 ranked Georgia (38-31) and their worst loss was to #48 ranked Florida (27-28). Tennessee had the #28 ranked team in total production with the #46 ranked offense and the #25 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2016
Tennessee again finished the regular season at 8-4 under Jones' fourth year at the helm of the football program (bowl eligible), and again won their post-season bowl game against #58 ranked Nebraska (38-24) to again finish 9-4 overall; the third straight year defeating a Big 10 team in the post-season. The Volunteers played against a "tougher" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Volunteers best game again was their victory over #17 ranked Appalachian State (20-13) and their worst loss was to #91 ranked South Carolina (21-24). Tennessee had the #65 ranked team in total production with the #16 ranked offense and the #115 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2017*
At the time of Jones' departure, the Volunteers were 4-6 overall, playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Volunteers best win was their opening game against #58 currently ranked Georgia Tech by a score of (42-41) and their worst loss was on a last second touchdown to #110 currently ranked Florida by a score of (20-26). At the time of Jones' departure, Tennessee had the #111 ranked team in total production, with the #111 ranked offense and the #97 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2017 NCAA FBS Head Coach Changes
Minnesota and Tracy Claeys
California and Sonny Dykes
Oklahoma and Bob Stoops
Mississippi (Ole Miss) and Hugh Freeze
UTEP and Sean Kugler
Oregon State and Gary Andersen
Georgia Southern and Tyson Summers
Florida and Jim McElwain