Vols’ Jones fired

Tennessee fired coach Butch Jones on Sunday with two games left in a regular season in which the Volunteers started ranked but are now still winless in the SEC. Vols Athletic Director John Jones Currie said

defensive line coach Brady Hoke would serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee fired coach Butch Jones on Sunday with two games left in a regular season in which the Volunteers started ranked but are now still winless in the SEC.

Vols Athletic Director

John Currie said defensive line coach Brady Hoke would serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Jones’ firing comes one day after Tennessee (4-6, 0-6) fell 50-17 at Missouri for its fifth loss in its last six games.

“Late last night it was evident this was probably the direction we needed to go for the best of all concerned,” Currie said at a Sunday news conference. “We have two games left to play. We wanted our student-athletes to have the best possible chance for success. We want coach Jones and his family to be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. We want to be able to focus, from my perspective, on the search going forward.”

Jones went 34-27 overall and 14-24 in the SEC over five seasons. He led the Vols to bowl victories each of the last three years before the program took a giant step backward this fall.

A dismal offense and a porous run defense sealed Jones’ fate. Tennessee’s offense went 15 consecutive quarters without a touchdown at one point this season. The Vols ended a string of 23 consecutive quarters without a touchdown pass Saturday but gave up 433 yards rushing and rank among the nation’s worst teams in run defense.

The Vols won their last six games in 2015 and their first five games in 2016, an 11-game streak that resulted in a top-10 ranking. But they’ve gone 8-10 since, and they’ve lost 10 of their last 12 conference matchups.

Jones was making $4.1 million annually and has a contract that runs through Feb. 28, 2021. According to the letter of dismissal Currie sent Sunday, the school owes Jones a buyout of more than $8.3 million.

Currie said Sunday that the buyout for the entire staff is in the “$13 million range,” though that figure could be mitigated depending on when and where Jones and his assistants are able to find work.

Jones