HOOVER, Ala. –Butch Jones said he has a plan to bring the pride back to the Tennessee football program.
Jones inherits a slumping program that has not won more than six games since 2009, and failed to reach a bowl game in each of the last two seasons under fired coach Derek Dooley. Jones said he has a plan to return Tennessee to its rightful place among the sport’s elite programs.
“We talked about doing that brick by brick,” Jones said at his first Southeastern Conference Media Day Wednesday. “That’s not a fancy slogan, we really meant that as every brick is symbolic of every individual in our football family and our football organization.”
Throughout his session, Jones frequently spoke of the process of building a football team. The first step in that process was getting his team in shape; Jones said about a month and a half in his team had lost 260 pounds of fat and regained 230 pounds of muscle.
Jones has a history of building successful football programs. He coached winning football teams at Central Michigan and Cincinnati and said he’s confident his method will do the same at Tennessee.
“The situations are different,” Jones said. “But I think the process and how you develop your football team doesn’t change.”
Jones ran an up-tempo offense at Cincinnati, but said if will slow down the tempo to protect his defense this season if he has to. He also pointed out that having an up-tempo offense doesn’t mean his team plans to get pass-happy this season.
“We’re not going to be a finesse-style football team,” Jones said. “We’re going to be a physical football team. We’re going to run the ball first.”
Tenseness was a pass-first offense last season, ranking No. 15 in the country in passing yards per game,  but quarterback Tyler Bray as well as receivers Justin Hunter and Cordarrelle Patterson have moved on to the NFL.
Jones does have some starters returning along the offensive line including senior Ja’Wuan James and junior Antonio Richardson. The Vols also return their leading rusher in senior Rajion Neal.
On the defensive side of the ball, Jones said he plans to run a 4-3 base defense to try to improve a unit that ranked No. 107 in the nation last season allowing 35.7 points per game.