According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, as University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones reached the X's and O's portion of his presentation during a Carson-Newman coaching clinic Friday in Pigeon Forge, he said, "I can talk all night (about football). This is kind of my therapy."
With the Volunteers set to begin spring practice this week, Jones has had little time of late to discuss his sport in technical coaching terms. Instead, he's spent much of the past month attempting to defend the culture of his program in the wake of a federal lawsuit that charges the university in general and the athletic department in particular with creating a "hostile sexual environment."
Given that the lawsuit cites examples dating back more than 20 years and Jones has been the coach only since December 2012, the school clearly has more to answer for than the five current or former Vols charged with some form of sexual assault under his watch. And each of those players was immediately suspended by Jones.
Perhaps because of that, he also told the clinic, according to The Associated Press: "There's an elephant in the room, and I think you all know what we're going through. Don't believe everything you read and hear. I promise you that."
So while many in the Big Orange Nation would surely prefer the next few weeks to be about football only, odds are it won't be. This lawsuit is likely to remain in the news each time anything else about the Vols is mentioned.
For proof, merely consider that on the same day Jones was addressing the coaching clinic, Kathy Redmond Brown - who started the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes after being sexually assaulted more than 15 years ago by a Nebraska football player - was a guest on the SEC Network's Paul Finebaum Show.
"They say it's a positive culture," she said of the recruiting pitch being delivered by all UT coaches these days. "What do you expect them to say?"
Understand that Brown has no big beef with UT. She actually spoke to male and female athletes from the school just before the start of the 2015 football season.
"I enjoyed meeting with the (UT) male athletes and female athletes. I really appreciated (UT inviting me)," she said on Finebaum's show. "They were open. They realized there was an issue. It's important for people to realize there's a culture out there. If it's not addressed in high school, they bring it onto college campuses. This culture has been around for decades. It takes time to undo that."
To illustrate her point, she talked of speaking to a group of high school male athletes and presenting them with the abstract scenario that a female in their midst was passed out drunk. Asked what they'd do, one brazenly admitted he would force himself on her. Every parent should consider the ramifications of that thought process as they delude themselves by thinking their Jack or Jill couldn't possibly find themselves in such a compromising situation.
Knoxville News Sentinel UT beat writer Dustin Dopirak reported Brown's words to Tennessee athletes last fall on his blog: "Athletics has always had that system where women are looked at as rewards. Especially when you have recruiting trips and how that's all gone. The parties and the party atmosphere. That's enticing for a kid that age. They think they're invincible. Nothing's going to happen to them, and they make assumptions they shouldn't make. That's dangerous."
But something else she said to Finebaum is the most clear and present danger to those who want it stopped.
"Ending this problem," she noted, "starts with fans, boosters and alumni."
Her point was unmistakable. Until those supporting major college teams want to win the right way with good kids more than merely win, the culture won't change. Perhaps it can't change.
"While I believe you can have quality kids and have a winning program, it takes time," she said.
If UT fans are honest, part of the football program's problems in this area stem from having four different head coaches with four different ideas of discipline roaming the sideline since 2008.
Certainly Phillip Fulmer had his share of bad actors over 16 seasons, but he also produced a number of quality citizens, including current Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who won the prestigious Walter Payton NFL man of the year award in 2012 after being nominated earlier in his career.
Lane Kiffin's one season didn't prove anything, though he didn't seem to put much value on character over talent.
Like too many coaches, the hotter Derek Dooley's seat became, the less he seemed to care about his recruits' off-field warning signs.
Then there is Jones, who has certainly had a few problems but has also appeared to swiftly discipline players charged with breaking the law.
A few months ago, as she spoke to the Knoxville News Sentinel following her talk, Redmond Brown admitted the challenge college athletic departments face if they want to establish new priorities.
"Changing the culture is a difficult thing," she said. "But I saw how disciplined those kids are. It takes the dedication. It takes the commitment of everybody involved."
Possibly anxious to seize on that, Jones told the Carson-Newman clinic that his current players - especially seniors Jaylen Reeves-Maybin and Alvin Kamara are "policing each other. They're getting everyone back in their dorm by midnight. It's leadership, holding everybody accountable."
At some point, the trials of former Vols A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams (who are charged with raping a female UT student-athlete) and the federal lawsuit will theoretically hold accountable any who need to be held accountable.
Until then, expect the elephant in the room to make it all but impossible for Jones to find the therapy he craves - talking football and football only.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.