Tennessee football media: Butch Jones' job safe if Vols go 9-3

I had so much fun at SEC Football Media Days two weeks ago, I decided to have a media day of my own. It was even more fun.

The best part: I didn’t have to drive four hours to Birmingham, Ala. The next best part: I didn’t have to listen to 14 SEC football coaches.

Here’s how my media day went: I called selected members of the media and asked the most relevant question leading in to Tennessee’s 2017 football season: How many games does coach Butch Jones need to win to make sure his job is safe?

It’s a tricky question, one that I spelled out for my media buddies just to make sure our signals weren’t crossed.

I believe if Jones wins eight regular-season games, as he has done each of the past two seasons, he will return for a sixth season. But there are mitigating factors.

What if one of the four losses were to Vanderbilt? Would first-year athletic director John Currie keep a coach with a 2-3 record against the Commodores after five seasons? I don’t think so.

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The rest of the media members I consulted felt the same way: If Jones wants to be absolutely certain of retaining his job beyond this season, he needs to win nine games.

Josh Ward, who co-hosts Sports 180 in Knoxville, said, “I can’t sit here and guarantee he will be back unless he goes 9-3.

“What if he goes 8-4 but loses to Florida by 28 points, Georgia beats Tennessee by a couple of touchdowns at home, Alabama destroys them 49-14 and LSU beats them at home?”

“I think he will survive at 7-5,” said John Pennington, host of the Sports Source, a long-running Sunday morning television talk show. “I don’t think (Currie) would want to fire a football coach in his first season.”

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That’s a valid point. As Pennington said, firing a football coach is nothing like firing a tennis coach, which Currie did shortly after he took the job. Once an athletic director fires one football coach and hires another one, the pressure escalates on the AD.

But Pennington also agrees that while Jones might be safe at 7-5, the nature of those losses still could put his job in jeopardy.

Jimmy Hyams, WNML sports director, says Jones likely would keep his job at 8-4: “If he went 8-4, he would have to beat some pretty good teams; 7-5, (he) wouldn’t want to go there; 6-6, he’s fired,” Hyams said.

“But yeah, if they’re 8-4 and all four losses are by 30 points, he could get fired.”

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Dave Hooker, co-host of Sport Talk in Chattanooga and, like Hyams, a writer for the college football website Gridiron Now, said, “To be sure he’s back, he has to go 9-3. If I were in that position (of athletic director), I would make a change if Tennessee went 8-4.”

Fortunately for Jones, Hooker didn’t apply for the AD job.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.