An Open Letter to Butch Jones

Dear Coach Jones,

I’ll admit it. I wasn’t happy with your hire. Maybe I was blinded by the so-called “big names” supposedly interested in the job. Maybe, like many of us, I had come to expect the worst in our coaching hires. But since that day, I’ve watched you assemble the best recruiting class at UT since Phil Fulmer’s heyday. I’ve watched you engage the fans like no one before you. You’ve embraced our longstanding traditions, while simultaneously creating new ones. You’ve done in a few months what I thought would take years: you’ve united this fanbase- this fanbase that has been fractured for years. As many of my fellow Vol fans say, “He gets it”.

Not so fast.

No, Coach, with all due respect, you don’t get it. Not yet. And maybe you never will. Your two immediate predecessors certainly didn’t. You see, it’s easy to pay lip service to Rocky Top, the Checkerboards, and The Vol Navy. But to truly “get” us, you have to immerse yourself in our culture on the 353 days a year when football games aren’t played. The Vol nation is about more than the gameday traditions that are shown on TV every week. And until you’ve grasped those intangibles, you’ll never truly “get it”.

As I’m sure you know, we’ve had a very, very bad decade. We’ve watched as a Tennessee icon became complacent, leading to a very ugly parting of the ways. We watched his carpet-bagging replacement take his travelling circus out west after one turbulent season, with our dignity and our hopes in tow. And we watched him get replaced by the worst coach in modern SEC history. We watched as the NCAA in essence held us at gunpoint and forced us to fire the best mens’ basketball coach we’ve ever had, for the equivalent of a speeding ticket. And now we watch helplessly as the greatest figure in womens’ sporting history slowly surrenders to a disease that will eventually take her life, but only after it takes her mind.

We’re due for something good to happen, coach.

You are getting a fanbase that long ago gave up the last of its bandwagon element to the Bamas and Floridas of the world. You may not get a full stadium every week, but those of us that will be there are the die hards.

We’ve taken over a decade’s worth of punches to gut, and yet we keep coming back. But why?

Maybe it’s for the same reason that so many teens in this region are named Peyton.

Or why, even when coming up in normal, non-sports related conversation, the years 1985 and 1998 bring a warm feeling to our hearts.

Or why so many of our IT passwords at work end in the numbers 16, 27, or 92.

Coach, it's the eve of your first game at UT, and I know you must be extremely busy today. But if you can carve an hour or two out of your schedule, I suggest you take a walk. Stroll down Cumberland Avenue or past the Vol Navy docks, and you’ll notice a tangible buzz in the air that you just don’t see any other time of year. The first revelers and tailgaters will have already arrived, many from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. The wonderful aroma of grilled meat fills the air, and one version or another of Rocky Top is always within earshot. Many of these people haven’t seen each other since last season, but they reconnect as if they’re next door neighbors. Storefronts and vehicles everywhere you look are decked out in Orange and White. Heck, maybe even Smokey Gray. Yes, Knoxville is a pretty plain town- but from September through November, it absolutely shines. That’s what this game, and, by extension, YOU mean to us, Coach.

Tomorrow, Big Orange Nation will pin all of its hopes and dreams on you and Team 117. And as we’ve learned, hopes and dreams can be very, very dangerous things when it comes to UT athletics. But we’re throwing caution to the wind, and we’re all in. That’s the confidence you have inspired over the past nine months.

We’re not expecting miracles this year. But if the team can put forth just a fraction of the effort that you and your staff have this offseason, we’ll be happy. Mostly, we just look forward to the day that UT football is fun again. If and when that happens on your watch, we will know for sure that you do indeed “get it”.

Best of luck, Coach Jones.

Sincerely,
Big Orange Nation

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