Tennessee to hire Butch Jones as football head coach

Knoxville, TN, United States (4E Sports) – Butch Jones has agreed in principle to coach the University of Tennessee’s football team.

The school is expected to formally announce the hiring in a press conference. But it’s athletics website has already exclaimed that “The Jones Era Begins.”

Jones’ career record is 50-27, and 1-2 for bowl games.

Athletic director Dave Hart said his department “is at a crossroads” financially, but vowed it would not be a hindrance in the search process.

Tennessee fired its most recent football coach, Derek Dooley, on Nov. 18 after an embarrassing 41-18 road loss at Vanderbilt cemented the program’s third straight losing season for the first time in more than a century.

Interim coach Jim Chaney, the Vols’ offensive coordinator, closed a disappointing 2012 season with a 5-7 overall mark.

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