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Former Tennessee HC Butch Jones makes reference that would've broke the internet in 2012 and 2017

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Zach Ragan | Last updated 3/13/24

Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones, who is entering his fourth season as the head coach at Arkansas State, made a reference on Tuesday that would've broke the internet back in 2012 and/or 2017.

Jones met with reporters on Tuesday ahead of the start of Arkansas State's spring practice. Near the end of the lengthy media session, Jones referenced his "good friend" Jon Gruden.

"I really challenged our coaching staff to get out (to see other programs) you know," said Jones. "Jon Gruden's a good friend of mine. We went down and spent a full day with him as an offensive staff. I thought that was enlightening to a lot of our young coaches of how you present, how you teach, how you manage your room, how you do your meetings. And then obviously from a schematic standpoint as well."

Grumors never die pic.twitter.com/viq8iwsLqP
— Vols Big Orange Podcast (@BigOrangePod) March 13, 2024

Jones' reference to Gruden instantly took me back to the Tennessee coaching searches of 2012 and 2017 (the search that led to the Vols hiring Jones and the search that happened after Jones was fired).

During both of those searches, "Grumors" hit a fever pitch as rumors swirled that Gruden was building a coaching staff in anticipation of taking over as the head coach at Tennessee.

The rumors, of course, never came to fruition. But the rumors weren't completely baseless. Gruden flirted with the idea of taking the job. And he had a connection to Tennessee via his stint as a graduate assistant under Johnny Majors in 1986 and 1987. It was during that time that Gruden met his wife, who was a cheerleader at Tennessee in the mid 1980s.

Audio and video of Gruden bringing up Knoxville/Rocky Top unprompted on Seattle radio spot this morning pic.twitter.com/uC2DT1dKiI
— Christian Lundy (@c_lundy1) November 16, 2017

Back in 2012 and 2017, any reference that connected Gruden to Tennessee went instantly viral.

The Grumors aren't quite as exciting these days -- especially after Gruden's fall from grace in the NFL -- but it's still a fun trip down memory lane.

And by the way, Tennessee not hiring Gruden ended up being one of the best non-hires the program ever made. It clearly would've been a disastrous hire. It took the Vols some time, but they finally landed on the perfect coach for the program in Josh Heupel

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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