Butch Jones

Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University.

Tennessee earned its 800th victory in program history and became only the eighth school in the nation to reach that plateau after Michigan, Texas, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Alabama.

From 1987 to 1989, Jones was an intern for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL), assisting the staff of head coach Ray Perkins.

Upon his graduation from Ferris State University in 1990, Jones joined the defensive staff of Rutgers as a graduate assistant.

The new head coach of Rutgers at that time, Doug Graber, had previously worked as the defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers, and was familiar with Jones.

Two years later, Jones took a job as offensive coordinator at Wilkes University, helping to guide the team deep into the Division III playoffs.

In 1995, he returned to his alma mater, Ferris State, to serve in the offensive coordinator role.

He led Ferris State to the top-ranked offense nationally for three straight years.

In 1998, Jones arrived at Central Michigan, where he coached tight ends for one year, running backs for two more, and was the offensive playcaller from 2002 to 2004.

Initially hired as an assistant by head coach Herb Deromedi, he was retained by new CMU head coaches Mike DeBord in 2000, and Brian Kelly in 2004.

He left the school in 2005 to work for Rich Rodriguez and coach wide receivers at West Virginia University, helping the school reach back-to-back top 10 seasons.

Jones returned to Central Michigan as head coach in 2007.

In his first year, he posted an 8–5 overall record and a 7–1 conference record.

Jones ended two streaks that had haunted his predecessors.

On September 29, 2007, the Chippewas beat Northern Illinois University, which was the first win over Northern Illinois going back to 1998.

On November 6, 2007, CMU beat its chief rival, Western Michigan, at its home field of Waldo Stadium for the first time since 1993.

He guided CMU to the MAC title at Ford Field in Detroit against Miami (Ohio), and led the team to its second consecutive Motor City Bowl.

He was only the ninth football coach in Mid-American Conference history to win the championship in his first season.

In 2008, a 31–24 loss to Ball State on November 19 derailed the Chippewas' MAC title hopes, but CMU earned a trip to a third consecutive Motor City Bowl.

In 2009, he guided the Chippewas to their third MAC Championship in four years after an 8–0 MAC schedule, the first time in school history the Chippewas went undefeated in the MAC.

CMU completed its run with a 20–10 win against Ohio in the MAC title game at Ford Field.

He left CMU with a 27–13 overall record and 20–3 MAC record.

He did not win a bowl game during his time at Central Michigan, though his team won the 2009 bowl game against Troy, 44–41.

On December 16, 2009, Jones was named as the head coach at the University of Cincinnati.

He replaced Brian Kelly, who left to become the head coach at Notre Dame.

Jones had previously replaced Kelly at Central Michigan.

Jones led the Bearcats to records of 4–8 in 2010 and 10–3 in 2011, including a Big East championship, a Liberty Bowl victory (31–24 over Vanderbilt), and he was named Big East Coach of the Year.

Also in 2011, Cincinnati was the only program to win both its conference championship as well as the league's team academic award.

He led the Bearcats to a 9–3 regular season record in 2012, leading them to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte to play against Duke University.

Twenty days prior to the bowl game, on December 7, 2012, Jones announced to the team that he would be resigning to accept the job as head coach at the University of Tennessee, after declining offers from Colorado, Purdue, and others.

He was required to pay $1.4 million to buy out his Cincinnati contract extension, signed on January 23, 2012, that went through the 2017 season.

On December 7, 2012, Jones was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers.

In a 2013 interview with Cityview magazine in Knoxville, Jones listed Perkins, Graber, DeBord, Rodriguez, and Kelly as influences on his coaching career.

Jones made his coaching debut on August 31, 2013, in Neyland Stadium against the FCS Austin Peay Governors, resulting in a 45–0 Tennessee victory.

On October 19, 2013, in Neyland Stadium, Jones led the Vols to a win over No. 11 South Carolina Gamecocks.

This was widely considered Jones's first signature win.

Jones's second signature win came on November 1, 2014, at Williams-Brice Stadium against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Vols trailed 42–28 with less than five minutes remaining and came back to win 45–42 in overtime.

Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the University of Alabama from 2018 to 2020, the head coach at the University of Tennessee from 2013 to 2017, the University of Cincinnati from 2010 to 2012 and Central Michigan University from 2007 to 2009.

A Michigan native, he played college football at Ferris State University as a running back and wide receiver.