Tennessee unquestionably was one of the biggest underachievers nationally in 2016, and one SEC assistant coach said Tennessee’s athletic director situation may have saved Jones from being fired.
UT athletic director Dave Hart announced last August that he would be retiring effective June 2017. His replacement, Kansas State AD John Currie, was named earlier this month. An anonymous SEC assistant thinks the instability in the overall program may have helped Jones.
“I think he’s … benefited from that (AD change),” one SEC assistant told 247Sports.com. “If they had a stable AD, I bet he’s gone.