KNOXVILLE - Tennessee football coach Butch Jones defended the culture of his program during a meeting with the media prior to the school's men's basketball game against LSU on Saturday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The past week has been filled with negative headlines for the Volunteers, with the university facing a lawsuit targeting its handling of rape and sexual assault accusations and defensive tackle Alexis Johnson facing charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment after his Wednesday arrest on allegations he choked and threatened his ex-girlfriend.
Jones was asked if he thought there was a problem with the culture of his football program.
"No, we've worked very hard to build our culture," he said. "We'll continue to defend it, but we're very proud of what we have here. When 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."
Jones then defended the measures taken throughout his tenure regarding the off-field behavior of Tennessee football players.
"Every day you're building your culture (with) over 50 speakers, guest speakers, the 'Fourth-and-1 Program,'" he said. "We're one of very few schools in the country that have a year-round personal growth and development program. Most people do it just in the offseason.
"We take all accusations very seriously. Can we continue to improve? Yeah, just like any team, company or organization. Our players have done a great job, and we have great people here at Tennessee."
There's nothing new regarding Johnson's status, Jones said, as he remains suspended while the legal process plays out.
Jones also declined to answer a question about whether or not former wide receiver Drae Bowles was assaulted for helping the accuser in the A.J. Johnson-Michael Williams case.
That's one of the allegations of the Title XI lawsuit filed last week in Nashville that claims the university's procedure for handling sexual assault complaints against athletes is flawed and favors the accuser.
Seven Tennessee players (Marlin Lane, an unnamed walk-on, Treyvon Paulk, A.J. Johnson, Williams, Von Pearson and Alexis Johnson) have faced allegations of sexual or domestic assault during Jones' tenure.
"We always are looking to get better, but like I've said, we've tried to be proactive," Jones said. "We'll continue to be proactive with guest speakers and continuing to educate our players like we do all the time."
At the end of his nearly three-minute session, Jones was asked what he thought the perception was regarding his program.
"The people that know us, they know our football program," he said. "They understand what's going on here with all the positivity. They understand that, and 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.
"People who understand what we're all about, they understand that we have a good culture in place."
Contact Patrick Brown@timesfreepress.com.