I started a new job this week, and I’ve gone from being a virtual expert at my daily responsibilities to having to train for 8 hours the past few days just to get a handle on all of my new tasks.
That’s disappointing.
After all, I thought even though I was changing gigs, I’d catch on quickly.
In one of my night jobs, I thought I wrote a kick-butt article for Bleacher Report last night that I re-read multiple times and published this morning. Looked clean to me. Though the content was strong, I got an editorial note that on one of the slides, I forgot to link an article I quoted.
That’s disappointing.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones doesn’t understand the definition of disappointment, obviously. After he was quoted — yet again — as saying something cringe-worthy at SEC Media Days this week, answering that last season wasn’t a disappointment, he led to yet another national media frenzy dissecting his words with a gigantic, 500-word “seriously?”
The words, yet again, have split an already fractured fanbase down the middle. The staunch Butch supporters believe the words were no big deal and point (rightfully) to the fact that the past two nine-win seasons are better than the five-win seasons of Derek Dooley not so long ago.
Others, like the jaded, frustrated fans who remember the glorious 1990s and can’t quite stomach even the upper end of mediocrity have used this as yet another battle cry that Butch isn’t the answer.
Neither extreme is OK. Why? Because even though last season may not have been bad, it was, indeed, a disappointment, by definition. After saying, “I don’t view it as a disappointment, these were his VERY NEXT WORDS:
“The way I view it is we didn’t accomplish everything we set ourselves out to. And, again, our goal every year is to win a championship and compete to win a championship.”
[We interrupt this regularly scheduled column to bring you the actual, real-life definition of “disappointment.”
dis·ap·point·mentdisəˈpointmənt/
nounthe feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations.
Kendall Vickers says last season "was a disappointment."
Butch Jones just moments earlier said he doesn't view 2016 as a disappointment.
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) July 10, 2017
If it sounds like I’m going after Butch, it shouldn’t, because I’m not. My track record proves I’m a Butch supporter. I believe he has gone a long way in re-establishing the program to a level of respectability. The jury is still out on whether he’s good enough to be a championship-level coach at Tennessee, but he’s earned enough string to prove whether he can or not.
I’m sorry, but three years of rebuilding from the doldrums of the worst head coaching hire in SEC history and an injury-plagued 2016 season isn’t enough to tell us either way.
I know for a fact that Jones isn’t on the hot seat, no matter what a vocal minority on social media and message boards want to say. New athletic director John Currie knows what state the program has been in, and he knows how far it’s come. This year is a pivot point in Jones’ tenure, sure, but there won’t be any serious talk about going in a different direction until after the 2018 season, at least.
So, divorce that idea from this one: Jones needs to learn what to say when.
Last year was a disappointment. It started with a 5-0 flurry, and was a whole lot of fun breaking the Florida streak and beating Georgia on the Dobb-nail boot. But also included in those five wins was the lucky-to-win game against a less-talented Appalachian State team to open the season.
Then, even though the wheels didn’t necessarily come off, the Vols had to steer to the curb and call a tow service. After an injury-cursed loss at Texas A&M, UT was blown to smithereens by Alabama. Then, they fell apart defensively down the stretch in wins against Missouri and Kentucky and losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
No matter what you want to call it, there’s no excuse for those defensive performances in Year 4 of any coach’s tenure. Tennessee is historically supposed to beat Vanderbilt and South Carolina regardless of the circumstances, but there’s no question UT should have still been more talented than those teams even with all the injuries. At the very least, they shouldn’t have given up miles worth of yards, including a school-record high in yards allowed against Mizzou in a game they actually won.
It’s unacceptable. It’s a disappointment.
Many writers have weighed in over the past few days on Jones’ words. Anything else I say about what he should have said would just be a repeat of that. But even though Butch’s sound bytes are scrutinized more than they probably should be by people across the country, his track record doesn’t exactly give him any free passes.
Much like Jones’ progress in the win column has bought him some wiggle room when it comes to keeping his job (as we’ve already discussed), his verbal miscues have tightened the noose in the realm of public perception. After “champions of life” and “five-star hearts” Butch needs to rebuild his reputation “brick by brick” before the cynical world of media and the court of public opinion.
The fact is Tennessee’s historical fortitude and the heights of the program’s success have sculpted a world where nine wins is acceptable, but it’s not good enough. Butch’s opinion doesn’t matter to a fan base that has seen its two biggest rivals reach unprecedented success during a dark time. The successes of Nick Saban at Alabama and Urban Meyer at Florida haven’t done Butch or anybody else in the SEC, for that matter, any favors.
But Butch didn’t have to beat Alabama in 2016 for it to keep from being a disappointment. All he had to do was win against South Carolina and Vanderbilt and seize a down SEC East with the door wide-open in a year the Vols were expected to do just that.
He didn’t do it. A Florida team with one of the worst offenses in the country has gone to the SEC Championship Game two years in a row now because the Vols couldn’t seize what was being handed to them. Bottom line.
And while last year shouldn’t be nearly enough to get him fired, it’s the first flesh wound.
If that’s not disappointing to Butch, well, it should be.
Here’s the thing, Vols fans. It actually IS disappointing to him. You’ve seen the man on the sidelines. You know he is passionate, turns eight shades of red and looks like his head is going to blow off. He tirelessly recruits, scrutinizes every single detail of the program with his fingerprints all over it and has proved over and over again he will make the difficult decisions — even when it means severing ties with long-time friends — when it comes to upgrading his coaching staff.
He cares. A lot. And he’s disappointed last year didn’t end with the Vols playing for a championship. He said it. The goal is to win championships, and the Vols didn’t do it.
By definition, that’s disappointing.
All he has to do is say it. All he has to do to stay on the same wavelength as the sane Tennessee fans is to just let them know that while things are getting better and the program is getting healthier, seasons like last year are unacceptable. They’re disappointing.
If you want a team that competes for championships and expects championships, you have to preach to your team that anything less is not OK. I’ve been behind closed doors, and Butch does that. He says it all the time; he lives it and breathes it.
For some reason, he just refuses to tell us that. And that’s why we don’t see eye-to-eye.
We both make the same point on the way to different conclusions, namely that he actually is disappointed. We just disagree over whether he has to say it. I think he’s accurately assessed that the fan base (perhaps rightly so) is still recovering from a long bout with the blahs, and I think he’s trying to row upstream at every opportunity. Don’t know whether it will work — we’ll have to wait and see — but I do think he believes that it’s the only way.
I don’t think relentless positivity is a bad thing, per se. But I just think it’s disjointed from the person we see coaching and the words he says in the offseason and while we’re undefeated. There’s a level of accountability that is side-stepped when you don’t take the results of the season head-on. I like Butch, and I want him to be the guy. I think it’s still possible he is, and I love the coaching hires he’s made and the recruiting that’s going on. But he needs thicker skin and less cliches. They’re impossible to defend, and they just… Read more »
Brad, I respectfully disagree with the conclusion that last year was a disappointment. I’ve read Butch’s statement and I get where he’s coming from. He doesn’t like or want to blanket the whole year (meaning everything in the year) with the word “disappointment”. Everything in the year wasn’t disappointing. Tennessee did lots of good things. Things I really enjoyed watching. Things that weren’t a disappointment. Then we did some bad things that were painful to watch. Those things were disappointing. I’m not labeling the whole year as BAD just because there were some bad things in there. Are we really… Read more »
I think this is especially well-said. I respect @brad-shepard‘s opinion (and those who agree with him), but this is the way I feel as well. I don’t know why we feel the need to draw some conclusion about the whole (about which so many are going to disagree) when we all agree that there was some good and some bad.
I love reading your articles, by the way, Brad. Even this one where I disagreed with parts of it. Keep up the good work.
I appreciate that bro
These are all fair points. They aren’t, however, ones I want coming from my coach because they sound like excuses.
There were none for last year in this last two games, and I just think it would be healthy for him to call it like it was. Strong comments by you though Andrew. I just want more verbal ownership
I can see that and can actually agree. I think Jones might have been better served to respond like, “I was disappointed with our performance against South Carolina and Vanderbilt. I wasn’t disappointed with the whole season but we need to fix our failures there.” Granted, I’m sitting here with plenty of time to think about this and he’s on stage in front of people taking questions in real time.
Nice article Brad. In a way I agree with both you and Joel (perhaps due to the point Joel just made in the comments). I think part of the issue here is, as you lay out, definitional. If we go with the definition you quote above then every season is a disappointment. Butch desires to win a National Title every single year. He likely does not believe that it is probable, but he hopes it will happen. If the definition of disappointment is focused on the non-fulfillment of hopes than every power five coach with a decent record last year… Read more »
Evan,
I agree with this: “The original question was useless and open to interpretation.” However, I think the reporter purposefully wants those kinds of questions. Those kinds of questions lead to long answers like Jones gave where said reporters can then cherry pick quotes out of context and create click bait. Fewer people read articles that basically say, “Butch Jones gives reasonable answer to good question.”
Andrew
Even if he would have said something like “even with all the turmoil we endured, the end result was disappointing and not what we expect at Tennessee” I’d have been ok with it. That’s essentially what he said anyway