3 reasons why Tennessee hasn't fired Butch Jones yet
After Tennessee suffered another disappointing loss at home to South Carolina on Saturday, Butch Jones finds his seat hotter than ever before.
The Volunteers have dropped three of their last four games and haven't scored a touchdown in 10 quarters, leaving many to question why Jones is still employed.
Well, here are three reasons why:
The QB situation
It was always going to be a challenging year for Jones, as he tried to replace Joshua Dobbs. So we shouldn't be all that surprised the offense is struggling.
The Volunteers came into the campaign with two very inexperienced pivots in Jarrett Guarantano and Quinten Dormady, and both are definitely experiencing growing pains. Guarantano started against the Gamecocks and only managed to complete 11 passes for 133 yards, while Dormady was average at best in five starts.
So perhaps Tennessee is giving Jones some extended leeway while his young pivots gain more experience.
Jones' buyout
While firing Jones seems like an obvious decision at this point, it won't be cheap.
$8,423,610: What Tennessee owes Butch Jones if it were to fire him tomorrow.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 14, 2017
That's a lot of money, and no school wants to pay someone more than $8 million to not coach. And that's without mentioning they would then paying a new coach a significant amount of money at the same time.
That doesn't even include the money the program would owe to the assistants, who would presumably be let go when a new head coach takes over.
Alabama is up next
It would be cruel to send an interim head coach into Alabama for their first game next week, when Tennessee travels to Tuscaloosa.
The Volunteers lost 49-10 to the Crimson Tide a year ago, and things could get even worse this season based on the way the Tennessee offense has struggled as of late. Nick Saban's defense figures to have its way with the Volunteers, and going through a coaching change in the week leading up would only make things even more difficult and potentially embarrassing for the program.
It's probably inevitable Jones will be fired at some point, but Tennessee has a few reasons for keeping him around a little longer.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)