Butch Jones is wrong, Tennessee football does have a culture problem
Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones doesn’t think there is a problem with the program’s culture despite an ongoing Title IX investigation against the school for allegedly creating a hostile sexual environment that favors student-athletes.
To say the last week has been a challenging one for the University of Tennessee would be an understatement. Tennessee is fighting against allegations that the university created a hostile sexual environment that favored student-athletes and saw one incoming recruit and one former player arrested one day apart from each other.
Incoming defensive tackle Alexis Johnson was suspended after he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. This came one day after former offensive lineman Mack Crowder was arrested in Florida in connection with a “minor” sex sting, according to a news release from the Pinellas County Sherriff’s Office.
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Despite the black eyes suffered in such a short amount of time, Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones doesn’t think there is a problem with the program’s culture.
“We’ve worked very hard to build our culture,” Jones said, via Wes Rucker of 247Sports. “We’ll continue to be very proud of what we have here. You just look at the academic excellence, the graduation rates, the community service, winning on the field, winning off the field. There’s no culture problem.
“Everything, every day, you’re building your culture. We’ve had over 50 speakers, guest speakers, the Fourth-and-1 program. We’re one of the very few schools in the country to have a year-round personal growth and development program. Most people do it just in the offseason.”
Jones mentions the steps he and the Tennessee athletic department and administration have taken to help prevent instances like Crowder and Johnson have found themselves in, but it’s still not enough and Jones recognizes that you can never stop working to improve the culture surrounding the team.
“Can we continue to improve? Yeah, just like any team, company or organization,” Jones said. “But we’ve come (a long way). Our players have done a great job, and we have great people here at Tennessee.
“The people that know us, they know our football program, they understand what’s going on here with all the positivity. They understand that. We just have to continue to work and grow and get better and let it galvanize us closer as a football team and a football program. But people who understand what we’re all about, they understand that we have a good culture in place.”
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Jones has done a lot of positive things since arriving in Knoxville and has the Vols on the cusp of what could be a season that ends with them in Atlanta and playing for the SEC Championship. But there’s so much more that needs to be done to heal the events of last week and what the Title IX investigation reveals.
There is a culture problem at Tennessee and if the same allegations existed at places like Florida, Georgia or Alabama you better be damn sure Vols fans would be on social media saying as much.
There are plenty of great fans and there are plenty of great people at Tennessee like Jones said who are sick at the recent news surrounding their beloved program, but the national perception is this a program that’s been tarnished with players involved in one ugly accusation against women after another.
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Capturing an elusive SEC East division title won’t help solve the culture problem that Jones isn’t willing to admit exists on Rocky Top.
The positive is that Jones is capable of ending the Vols title drought and healing the fan base with wins on the field as well as an improved reputation off it. The problem is the former required a lengthy rebuilding process and the latter could be just as lengthy.