KNOXVILLE – Butch Jones concluded his opening statement and the answer to the first question at his Monday news conference on Tennessee’s campus with emphatic and nearly identical statements.
“We cannot and will not ignore the details and what it takes to play winning football,” he said the first time.
“Again, I’ll tell you, the details will not be ignored,” Jones added shortly thereafter. “I can promise you that.”
In between, the fifth-year Tennessee coach had this to say: “We all hurt. We’re angry. We’re pissed. All the above.”
Jones struck a passionate tone as a new week dawned following his team’s 26-20 Saturday loss at Florida. He was quizzed again on what went wrong against the Gators, asked about the team’s newest injury victims and pressed on a variety of personnel matters.