Tennessee football coach Butch Jones shouts to players during the Vols’ home football game against the Missouri Tigers at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Tennessee won their final home game of the season 63-37.KNOXVILLE – By now you’ve probably heard the Tennessee Volunteers referred to as the 2016 “champions of life.”
The punchline was fueled by the viral media reaction to a comment made Monday by coach Butch Jones and continued during the week as Tennessee focused on Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt.
Jones was trying to praise the value his seniors have had in helping the program’s rise when he said they’d won “the biggest championship, and that’s the championship of life.”
The comment’s intent was fine, but the word choice, particularly in the wake of Tennessee seeing its SEC title hopes quashed by Florida’s win at LSU, led to plenty of internet memes and widespread ridicule, including ESPN’s Rece Davis mocking the facetious title as the College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night.
Jones on Wednesday was asked about the comment and addressed the reaction it produced.
“I’m still amazed that when I talk to people and I bring up the success of this program in the last four years, it’s minimized,” he said. “And I don’t understand how it can be minimized from the graduation (rates) to being 14-3 (in our last 17 games). I don’t get it. There’s so many great stories.
“Coaches around the country get it, because they want to come visit here already and come visit during bowl prep and see everything that’s going on. We have something very special here. Do we have a long ways to go? Absolutely. Is Saturday night going to be a test? It’s going to be a test for everyone. This is a really good football team that we’re going (against).
“Are there some things we need to correct and improve and get better? Absolutely, and that’s on me, first and foremost, as the caretaker of Tennessee football.”
Tennessee failing to win the SEC East and play in the league championship game in Atlanta this season surely is a disappointment, but the Vols still have the chance to win 10 games and could play in the Sugar Bowl if they win in Nashville on Saturday night and have other results go their way.
This week, though, the Vols have been unable to escape the label given to them based on an out-of-context quote.
Jones makes puzzling remarks and uses tiresome cliches in almost every media setting and has done so for his entire Tennessee tenure, but none of those went as viral as Monday’s seemingly innocuous comment.
“One, we have our coach’s back for sure,” quarterback Josh Dobbs said Tuesday when asked about it. “Two, we understand what Coach Jones is saying. When you come to Tennessee, obviously you want to win each and every game each and every time you step on the field.
“But 10 or 15 years from now when you look back on your experiences at the University of Tennessee and you look back on the people you affected here, you’re not really going to focus on what was the score of the Missouri game in 2016. You’re going to focus on the lives you affected, the bonds you were able to create, how you treated people and how you enjoyed your experience.
“That’s what Coach Jones was hitting at.”
In the first half of his 563-word answer Wednesday Jones spoke about the behind-the-scenes work and approach this team has displayed on a daily basis this season, and he wrapped it up by referencing Wednesday’s visit to a Chattanooga children’s hospital.
“There was no need to publicize us doing that,” he said. “That was out of the heart. That was because we needed to do this. That was to make a difference, maybe brighten somebody’s day, be a part of it. We talk about being ‘One Tennessee’ and we’re in it together as a community, we’re in it together as a state. That’s what today was all about.
“We have something very special and some people want to take their shots at us, whether it’s ‘champions for life’ and all that. You know what, that’s what life’s all about, is being champions and having pride in your personal brand and your last name and everything that it stands for. We’re proud of the University of Tennessee brand. We’re proud of Tennessee football.
“Do we have a long ways to go? Yes. Are we excited about it and the journey and all our of seniors and what they’ve been through? Yes. I know that’s a long, long, long winded answer to your question, but this team has been very special.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.