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.