One question I would like to ask Butch Jones

[TNnative]

I know we are all excited with the hope that Butch Jones and our new staff have brought about positive changes in recruiting, and player development to restore a winning tradition to the University of Tennessee football program. However, if I could ask Butch Jones one question, it would be the following:

Coach Jones, over the past few years, the football program at Tennessee has had a problem that has been ongoing through the tenures of Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, and Derek Dooley. Players being involved in incidents like bar room brawls, armed robbery, theft, shop lifting, assault...the list goes on and on. I realize this problem is something that has occurred, and continues to occur at most every major university, but in recent years, it has seemed to plague Tennessee especially hard.

How is Butch Jones, the current staff and university administrators addressing this disturbing trend? I only ask, because no matter how well the team develops, and no matter how well you and your staff recruit promising talent, what does it matter if players continue to embarrass the program, the university, and the fan base?

Until someone forwards this question to coach Jones, what does VolNation think?

 

[windyvol]

Have there been problems since bj got here?

 

[TNnative]

Have there been problems since bj got here?

Not yet, but do you really think that means the problem has been solved?

 

[ACvol3]

I just wanna win.. F the rest

 

[matrosscbc]

Woody Quinn looks like a Beast IMO. Love for this one to work out.

 

[TNnative]

I just wanna win.. F the rest

I do too, AC. But since many of these problems have cost us over the years many good players that would have been productive players, we can't just say "F the rest." That, sir, has been the problem.

 

[TAF]

I just wanna win.. F the rest

Ws and hard fought, to the wire Ls...

*although the "countdown" began today of early morning checks of the board here...just waiting for our "annual right before season starts news flash"...

 

[DuckVol]

You can recruit good character, impose disciplinary actions, and take all the necessary steps to run a trouble free program, but at the end of the day they're a bunch of kids, and kids make dumb decisions... especially when they get around a bunch of other kids or get bored. So, in my opinion, the off the field incidents are going to happen, but maybe they will be few and far between and not "too" serious...




but on the other hand... to have success you need arrests...j/k...kind of

 

[Vol4life25]

Why the hell did you hire Willy Martinez?

 

[FalcoVol]

We just met this hot chick with a great personality who makes us feel awesome. Yet you wanna worry over undiscovered flaws that may not even exist?

Enjoy today. Don't be neurotic.

 

[ImportedVoL]

Ummmm... These are college kids

Just because they can play a sport well, Does not mean they should be held to a different standard then every other college aged kid on the planet..JMHO

The expectations placed on these kids is ridiculous

 

[ManningBerry#1]

I don't know the answer but it, the answer, would contain a mention of the word "individuals" over twenty times.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

I know we are all excited with the hope that Butch Jones and our new staff have brought about positive changes in recruiting, and player development to restore a winning tradition to the University of Tennessee football program. However, if I could ask Butch Jones one question, it would be the following:

Coach Jones, over the past few years, the football program at Tennessee has had a problem that has been ongoing through the tenures of Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, and Derek Dooley. Players being involved in incidents like bar room brawls, armed robbery, theft, shop lifting, assault...the list goes on and on. I realize this problem is something that has occurred, and continues to occur at most every major university, but in recent years, it has seemed to plague Tennessee especially hard.

How is Butch Jones, the current staff and university administrators addressing this disturbing trend? I only ask, because no matter how well the team develops, and no matter how well you and your staff recruit promising talent, what does it matter if players continue to embarrass the program, the university, and the fan base?

Until someone forwards this question to coach Jones, what does VolNation think?

"tl;dr"

-Butch Jones

 

[TNnative]

We just met this hot chick with a great personality who makes us feel awesome. Yet you wanna worry over undiscovered flaws that may not even exist?

Enjoy today. Don't be neurotic.

Neurotic? Falcon, if you look at the arrest figures, they coincide with the downhill slide that led to Fulmer's downfall. The list of promising players we have seen dismissed is staggering. Do a simple web search.

Personally, I think the Vols For Life program Dooley began will continue. I think the Volympics program is going to help. I truly believe that the evaluation of character in recruiting is going to be huge. I personally think what is going to turn this problem around is the coaches and university leadership leading by example.

I just do not want SEC championships, and the big crystal ball that signify national championships to be snatched from under our feet because a lack of character snatched key bricks out of the wall.

 

[TNnative]

You can recruit good character, impose disciplinary actions, and take all the necessary steps to run a trouble free program, but at the end of the day they're a bunch of kids, and kids make dumb decisions... especially when they get around a bunch of other kids or get bored. So, in my opinion, the off the field incidents are going to happen, but maybe they will be few and far between and not "too" serious...




but on the other hand... to have success you need arrests...j/k...kind of

I am not talking about playing practical jokes, or simple speeding tickets. Maybe I am getting old, but I do not think it is too much to ask that young men who have the opportunity to represent this university and this state, play in the finest stadium in the country, get the opportunity to impress NFL scouts, and get an education to boot obey the law. It may be a punchline to some of you, but I hope it isn't to Butch Jones.

 

[92volalum]

This is just stupid.. to think u can recruit 85 players n all of them stay out of trouble is crazy.. then u put the top 10 percent of the talent that's it all about me n come from freaked up backgrounds n u have a few that get into trouble.

If u want to win championships u r going to have some thugs around if that's not what u want then root for duke or Harvard or someone.. to play in the big time u have to have the meanest sobs around.. otherwise lets all play flag football n have tea afterwards...

Can we please start the season now!!!

 

[FalcoVol]

Neurotic? Falcon, if you look at the arrest figures, they coincide with the downhill slide that led to Fulmer's downfall. The list of promising players we have seen dismissed is staggering. Do a simple web search.

Personally, I think the Vols For Life program Dooley began will continue. I think the Volympics program is going to help. I truly believe that the evaluation of character in recruiting is going to be huge. I personally think what is going to turn this problem around is the coaches and university leadership leading by example.

I just do not want SEC championships, and the big crystal ball that signify national championships to be snatched from under our feet because a lack of character snatched key bricks out of the wall.

He just got here. Let's see how he chooses to handle such situations. Meanwhile, enjoy the fact that such situations aren't happening.

 

[Weezer]

We just met this hot chick with a great personality who makes us feel awesome. Yet you wanna worry over undiscovered flaws that may not even exist?

Enjoy today. Don't be neurotic.

What if the undiscovered flaw is an STD? Hot chick could give you the clap or the herp. Then you'll be thinking, "Damn, I wish I would of thought this out better".

As for the OP, sh!t happens. Buckle up and let's see where the ride takes us. A coach can't be there to hold a player's hand 24/7.

 

[Weezer]

A lot of these problems would be solved if we'd just go ahead and legalize marijuana. The NCAA could then take it off their drug test policy because let's face it, weed is not a PED. It doesn't make you play better or heal faster.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Knock on wood but, thus far, things have been remarkably quiet on this front under Butch's watch. Perhaps the message of personal accountability and player-inspired leadership is truly resonating and having the desired effect of dramatically minimizing these incidents.

 

[Weezer]

While I'm on the subject, why not allow PEDs? If a player chooses to juice up and shrivel away his nads to nothing in order to be a superstar and entertain me, more power to him.

Yes, this is a sarcastic post. I'm not in favor of PEDs. But I do stand by my legalizing pot statement made in a previous post.

 

[livefaith]

My $.02 of D1 coaching logic ...

#1 Do you currently have better athletes than your rivals?
->No, then you get stomped and lose your job. <End career>
->Yes, then you necessarily cast your recruiting net so wide that you inevitably caught a significant % of superb physical specimens who have little moral fabric, are almost mindless, have absolutely no business in any institution of higher learning whatsoever, and are thus destined by statistical probability to bring a steady stream of embarrassment to the host institution. <Hope, pray, defend the fort, rinse, and refer to #1 before next recruiting season.>

 

[livefaith]

Knock on wood but, thus far, things have been remarkably quiet on this front under Butch's watch. Perhaps the message of personal accountability and player-inspired leadership is truly resonating and having the desired effect of dramatically minimizing these incidents.

Nope! Remember how Dooley was recruiting all those "High Character Guys"? :good!:

 

[VolAce]

It all starts with the types of men he recruits. I think his family atmosphere is a really great step in the right direction. I dont think he necessarily owes anyone an answer to what hasn't happened yet. He has done all of the right things thus far to answer that question by his actions rather than his words. The Volympics was a genius idea that will not only keep our players on the straight in narrow, it will also give them incentive to excel in the classroom to fix the even bigger problem of our APR. These kids are competitors, when a coach puts learning and volunteer work into a competitive format it keeps them focused on the right things.

Regardless, with all of the noise coming from places like Florida, Ohio State, and EVEN in-state Vanderbilt! We are doing pretty good. You must be the worrying type....

 

[SmokeyFTW]

Kids will be kids, and remember these are kids.