The college football-coaching carousel continues to turn.
After numerous reports came out that he would be leaving, Butch Jones has decided to leave Cincinnati to take the head coaching position at the University of Tennessee. The school held a press conference on Friday morning to announce the news.
"It is truly an honor and a privilege to be a part of the Vol Nation!" Jones, 44, tweeted Friday morning.
According to sources who spoke to ESPN.com, the contract is a six-year deal and will be finalized with the school on Friday. The site also said that Jones resigned at Cincinnati effective immediately.
"I would like to thank Butch Jones for his time at the University of Cincinnati," athletic director Whit Babcock said in a news release, according to ESPN.com. "With that said, we are excited about the future of this program and this job will be extremely attractive nationally. Our search will begin immediately."
Jones will replace former Tennessee coach Derek Dooley, who was fired by the school on Nov. 18. Dooley was just 15-21 over three seasons with the team and "posted a losing record in each of his three seasons at Tennessee, the first time since 1909-11 the Volunteers have finished below .500 three straight years," according to the Associated Press.
In six years as a head coach, Jones went 50-27 in stints with Central Michigan and the Bearcats. He was 23-14 with Cincinnati and will try to bring Tennessee back from a few down seasons.
Tennessee won a national championship in 1998 under coach Phillip Fulmer, but hasn't replicated that success since. Fulmer coached at the school from 1992 to 2008 and won 152 games. The team has been unsuccessful in finding a head coach since Fulmer departed, having hired Lane Kiffin in 2009 before moving on to Dooley in 2010.
The team hasn't taken home a conference title since winning the national championship in 1998 and the Volunteers haven't been bowl-eligible since 2010. The team was ranked 107th last season in scoring defense, allowing 35 points per game.
According to ESPN.com, "After winning at least eight games for 16 consecutive seasons from 1989-2004 and posting double-digit wins in nine of those years, Tennessee hasn't earned more than seven victories in any of its last five seasons."
The Volunteers opened with a 3-1 record, but then lost six of the next seven games. The team finished with a 37-17 win over Kentucky at home to earn their first conference win of the season.
Junior quarterback Tyler Bray was fantastic despite Tennessee's struggles, passing for 3,612 yards and 34 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. He completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and threw at least four touchdowns in six games this season. In the final game against Kentucky, Bray threw for 293 yards and four touchdowns with zero turnovers.
Bray now ranks second behind Peyton Manning in both single-season passing yards and touchdowns and has one more year of eligibility of he decides to stay at the school rather than enter the 2013 NFL Draft.
With the move to the SEC, Jones becomes the third straight Cincinnati head coach to leave the school after three seasons, following Mark Dantonio, who departed to Michigan State, and Brian Kelly, who left for Notre Dame. Kelly led the Irish to a 12-0 season this year and won his second Coach of the Year award after taking home the trophy in his final season at Cincinnati.
The Bearcats went 9-3 this season and will play against Duke in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 27. The team won four of the final five games of the season, but lost out on a chance to take control of the Big East conference with a loss to then-No. 22 Rutgers 10-3 on Nov. 17.
Cincinnati had the 12-ranked scoring defense in the nation and was one of the most explosive offenses in the country, scoring over 30 points per game.
For all the success at Cincinnati, the Tennessee job is a huge step up for Jones. The Bearcats have a 35,000-seat home stadium that is a struggle to fill, while the Volunteers routinely sell out is 100,000-seat stadium. The SEC is a much tougher conference than the Big East, which is facing uncertainty as Rutgers and Louisville leave for new conferences.
The decision to leave Cincinnati marks the end of a wild week of rumors and speculation for Jones and the end of another tough coaching search for the Volunteers.
Jones was rumored to be interested in the head-coaching job at Colorado and the Denver Post reported on Thursday that sources said he would take the position.
Tennessee contacted former Raider head coach and current ESPN broadcaster Jon Gruden, who said he was not interested in the job. The program also tried to lure coach Charlie Strong from Louisville, but he signed an extension with the school.
Although Jones has never coached in the SEC, he won two Mid-American Conference championships with Central Michigan and tied for first place in the Big East the past two years.
