Is it finally time for Tennessee football to move on from Butch Jones?

3. The Vols’ contingency has high expectations

The Tennessee Volunteers contingency has some mighty high expectations. A guy that’s won nine games twice and is currently still in the SEC East race is on the hot seat. However, I can’t blame the Vols for wanting more than average.

Tennessee isn’t Nebraska, in the middle of the midwest, cut off from talent bases. On the contrary, Knoxville has its own talent as well as nearby Memphis and Nashville, Hoover, Baton Rouge, Charlotte and Atlanta. The Vols were always great about recruiting the southeast strong and adding a recruit from Florida, Texas and California to their old south territory.

It isn’t like Butch Jones has recruited poorly, either. He’s actually recruited well finishing 17th, 14th and 4th in the last three recruiting classes per 247sports.com. That’s around LSU, FSU, Notre Dame, UCLA and Clemson. With talent comes expectations. The Vols’ faithful spends a lot of money to see their program succeed, not lose their SEC East games.

Over the past 25 years UT has had a quarterback that’s one of the NFL’s greatest of all time in Peyton Manning. They’ve also had a number of other elite players like Leonard Little, Al Wilson, Jason Witten, Albert Haynesworth, Chad Clifton, and Travis Henry to name a few. All that talent, and one national championship.

When a program has name brand coaches and players for thirty plus years they get used to the success that comes with it. Since Lane Kiffin took over the Vols haven’t had the same name brand they had under Majors and Fulmer. UT and Nebraska played each other in the ’98 Orange Bowl and the 2000 Fiesta Bowl. However, during the College Football Playoff era, both programs are struggling.