TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Dear John Currie,
I know this is your first year as the University of Tennessee athletic director. Assessing this Big Orange football program is a difficult task. Especially since the Volunteers have gone 9-4 each of the past two seasons under Butch Jones, who pretty much inherited a toxic waste dump when he took over prior to the 2013 season.
So if you're still undecided about your head football coach's future following Saturday's 45-7 beatdown at No. 1 Alabama, that's somewhat understandable, no matter how much the Big Orange Nation is shouting otherwise today.
While a large part of the Nation no doubt will decisively disagree, it could certainly be argued that it's better to make no move than to make the wrong move. It could be cheaper, too.
And lopsided as that final score was, Saturday was not a complete disaster. For the second week in a row, the defense acquitted itself fairly admirably under coordinator Bob Shoop until it wore out. And just to be fair to those defensive guys, the Energizer Bunny would need an IV if it got as little recuperation time as the Vols defenders have the past few weeks.
I mean, if anybody needs to be fired - and I'm not saying anyone necessarily does - it's offensive coordinator Larry Scott, whose side of the ball has now failed to score a touchdown since the first half of the UMass game, which is a run of 14 quarters. No Southeastern Conference team that plays in an iconic 104,000-seat stadium and still fancies itself as something of an elite program should be so inoffensive. If you're going to keep Jones, something has to change on that side of the ball. Immediately.
But in truth, it's so much bigger, and worse, and seemingly more hopeless than changing offensive coordinators. Almost never had there been less buzz about this annual Third Saturday in October showdown throughout the Volunteer State than this past week. There also never has appeared to be fewer Big Orange fans in Bama's Bryant-Denny Stadium to support their beloved Vols.
The team may not have given up, but it certainly appears the fans have, despite the Vols having a realistic chance at an 8-4 record, which would tie Butch's best regular-season mark for his five seasons on the job.
And one look at Kentucky's performance in an even less impressive 45-7 loss at Mississippi State on Saturday should tell you all you need to know about the possibility that the Vols can still finish 8-4 overall and 4-4 in the league.
There's a reason why the Mildcats have been unofficially known as The Cure by UT fans. UK has won one time in the last 32 games between the two programs. Kentucky football falls apart at the first sign of Clorox Orange.
Which actually makes your decision on whether to keep Jones through the season or fire him today or Monday much tougher. Because while Tennessee might be so bad at season's end that firing Coach Cliche would be easy, it also now faces five games against UK, Southern Miss, Missouri, LSU and Vanderbilt that are all winnable.
So you don't have an easy decision. But that's also why you have the final say instead of the media, the fans or both. You get to see Jones' strong points up close and personal. The outstanding academic improvements. The equally laudable off-the-field behavior.
And, no, defensive back Rashaan Gaulden should not have launched a double-barrel one-finger salute toward the Bama student section after the Vols' lone score. When you're down 28-7, zip your lip and take it. That said, at least he was still passionate about his team, and as former Times Free Press writer Wes Rucker tweeted soon after that gesture, "(Gaulden) will never have to buy another drink in Knoxville."
Beyond that, Gaulden not only faced the media after the Bama loss but owned up to his mistake, saying: "I want to make an apology to the University of Tennessee and the University of Alabama for my gesture after the pick-six by Daniel Bituli. That's not how my parents raised me. That's not how a leader of the team should show their emotions on the field."
Say what you will of Jones, but that's another example of him developing quality adults beyond football.
Yet for $4 million a year, UT should expect its coach to win games, lots of games, including games that matter, such as those against Alabama, Georgia and Florida, which happen to be his biggest rivals in the eyes of the Big Orange Nation.
Now five years on the job, Jones stands 3-12 against that trio. He's also lost twice to Vanderbilt. And his 2017 Vols have been outscored 112-27 by the Gators, Bulldogs and Tide. So whatever ground he'd appeared to make up in seasons three and four is now being lost, going in reverse in a hurry.
There's also this: If you know already you plan to make a change at the end of the season, doing it now puts you in play for almost any coaching candidate, as well as having that coach in place a couple of weeks before the late-December signing period.
As redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Guarantano was wrapping up his postgame remarks on Bama, he said, "Coach Jones is going through a tough time right now. We all are."
Mr. Currie, after Saturday there would appear to be only one way to ease that tough time for all concerned excepting Jones himself.
It's time to start over. That's how the leader of all of UT's athletic teams should begin to fix its most beloved one.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com