Addressing that press conference yesterday, and moving on to actual reasons to be excited about Tennessee playing Georgia this week.
Butch Jones had a press conference yesterday, and . . .
. . . yeah, that was . . . something. Jones gave an odd response to a question about why Jauan Jennings hasn’t been on the sideline, and then he responded to a question about whether Shy Tuttle’s injury might have been caused by a teammate with a lecture about negativity, reality TV, and fake news.
Look, I think I understand Butch Jones. I’m on record as being an unapologetic cultivator of the optimism bias, and I have a raging allergy to negativity. He and I probably have that in common, which is likely a dangerous thing to admit this week. So forget I said that.
But . . . but, . . . that really didn’t help.
The odd thing is that the guys on ESPN’s College Gameday said some very similar things just a couple of days before:
The lesson here, I think, is that this isn’t a point you can make for yourself. That, and if your aim is to criticize the media, you probably don’t want to trial balloon that sucker with the media first.
Butch’s closing statement triggered a whole bunch of nonsense on Twitter, but that should have been the expected result. The smartest thing I read about the whole ordeal came from Mike Griffith at SEC Country, who said (a bit too, generously, I think) that Butch just continues to try too hard:
If recent history is any sort of indicator, most coaches would not have had much to say to either of the questions that seemed to irritate Jones, and some might have abruptly ended their press conferences.
But Jones continues to try to explain everything and say the right things, and in pressing to do so he produces explanations that not everyone has the perspective to understand.
As I said, the second part of that might actually be a little overly generous, but I think the point of the first part stands. I personally believe that Jones’ heart is in the right place, but he hasn’t yet learned when to say what. The only thing you can do when everybody’s in a mood is keep quiet and get back to work.
Speaking of getting back to work . . .
It’s Georgia Week
Yeah, so Georgia had a good weekend, and Tennessee had a bad one, so the stage is set for a blowout, right?
Maybe. But maybe not. Some are saying loudly that Jones is coaching for his job this weekend, but that doesn’t necessarily portend disaster. We’ve seen that movie before with a different cast of characters, as this wouldn’t be the first time that the Georgia game kept a season from going off the rails. And besides, the same thing that was so disappointing about last weekend is actually the same reason to be excited for this one:
Regardless of anything else, it’s a big game. SEC Nation is going to set up shop on Rocky Top, broadcasting live from the Ayres Hall lawn from 10 to noon Saturday. The school has announced that it’s a Checker Neyland game, so if you need to figure out whether to wear orange or white, you can do that here.
Lost in the hubbub of yesterday’s press conference is the fact that starting tight end Ethan Wolf and backup tight end Jakob Johnson both left the UMass game with injuries. Fortunately, the team expects at least one of them back for Georgia (Wolf, I’m guessing, as he wasn’t in a walking boot.) Also, Evan Berry is still out, but the team expects to have Jashon Robertson and Shy Tuttle back Saturday as well.
Expect the team to pull out all of the stops Saturday and possibly even take a look at a Wildcat package to give the offense another dimension and a spark.
Quick hits
Do you need more evidence that John Kelly is THE MAN? Well, here:
The SEC’s most elusive backs – led by Tennessee’s John Kelly. pic.twitter.com/5HZWvZCrAG
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) September 25, 2017
Have you ever wondered what the point of those honorary coaches is? Well, here:
See what it’s like to be an Honorary Coach – https://t.co/sdgYUz5eic
— VFL Films (@VFL_Films) September 25, 2017
I wonder how broadly Jones defines media. The Tuttle rumor was never reported by any traditional media.
My guess? Like most, he doesn’t define it at all. 🙂
Also, I think it’s difficult for folks focused more on other things to really fully appreciate the distinction between say, the writers at any given media outlet, and an active community in the comment section/forums. They should, but I don’t know how much they do.
I can agree that Butch would do well to realize that comments like the ones at the press conference are always going to be met with ridicule by a whole lot of people who love to jump on things like that. But I personally had no problem with the comments. Even if the media wasn’t reporting the rumor, I appreciate his desire to protect the image of his young football players, like a father wants to protect the image of his children. No doubt his players appreciate that. I also think the media member would have done better to ask… Read more »
I can agree with that.
My take on coaching changes is currently this: I don’t really care to invest a bunch of energy into something I have zero control over. That decision will be made by someone else, and he or she won’t consult me. It makes more sense to me to focus energy on the things I can control. So right now, I’m finding ways to continue to enjoying the season.