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There is losing.
There is losing to your rival.
There is losing to your rival 41-0.
There is losing to your rival 41-0 at home.
Then there is losing to your rival 41-0 at home one week after almost losing at home to UMass, two weeks after losing because you didn’t have enough defensive backs on the field, and all in front of your fans who call for your coach’s firing even during victories.
The 2017 Tennessee Volunteers, everybody!
Let’s see how some Vols fans across the internet responded to the loss.
We start our travels at the VolNation.com message boards.
Mere weeks ago, some thought athletic director John Currie had hatched a plot to relieve Butch Jones of his duties and replace him with ex-coach Phillip Fulmer. There’s still a fear (or a hope?) that Fulmer, now 67 and an AD assistant, will return:
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Someone’s got a more practical idea, obviously:
Do whatever it takes to get Gruden !!!! This was embarrassing
We have to much talent to be losing this badly ... especially at home
Jon Gruden’s turned down the Tennessee job at least three times since 2008.
I agree. Whether it is Gruden or Chip Kelly, or Bobby Petrino, or Mike Leach...take a blank check and make them say no.
I'd still love to see Gruden here. He's clearly a smart coach, great offensive mind, great QB mind. He relates with kids as he has shown on his QB camp shows. I have to imagine he'd be a great recruiter, the question is whether he'd put in the time? He has connections to build a great staff. He wouldn't coach scared. The booth is always there for him to return to.
Why not make a run at him?
Another poster wants to hire the 32-year-old head coach at FCS Austin Peay, which recently snapped a 29-game losing streak:
Bring in Will Healy
Smart young coach on a roll. What could go wrong??
Someone started a thread that was designed purely as a repository for Tennessee fans’ freshest Butch Jones jokes. The original post:
Well, this game is awful. I would usually be ticked off and screaming at the television. Unfortunately, apathy is beginning to set in. In the midst of my boredom, I've created a list of bad Butch Jones jokes. Feel free to add to this list or burn me at the stake.
Butch Jones should be a spokesperson for a vacuum company... He sucks!
Butch Jones likes the yellow starbursts
Butch Jones' mom is disappointed in him and doesn't think he's handsome
Butch Jones pees sitting down
Butch Jones knits blankets for Christmas gifts
Butch Jones drives a Toyota Tercel
Butch Jones vacations in Muncy, Indiana.
Butch Jones thinks the band is underappreciated
Butch Jones wrote the book, Football for Dummies.
Butch Jones owns one book, Football for Dummies.
Butch Jones can't read or write
Butch Jones flies kites every afternoon
Butch Jones thinks the word infallible means sucks
Some of my favorite reader submissions:
“Butch Jones skis in jeans.”
“Butch Jones has a Blockbuster card.”
Someone else proposes everyone go to the next home game dressed in protest gear.
I think fans going to the games should wear black to show their displeasure in Butch and continue to wear black until he is fired. You can still support the team and wear the gear but seeing a stadium that is normally full of orange blacked out sends a loud and clear message.
Let’s stroll on over to Twitter and just see what we find, shall we?
This is an idea of how many people have changed their Twitter names — not just tweeted, mind you, but actually changed their names — to FIRE BUTCH JONES:
In Nashville, the trending topics right after the game:
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This is a bit of a “choose your own adventure” game, but I’m going down the “Neyland Stadium” rabbit hole first.
A note for the athletic director from Pastor James:
@John_Currie
— Pastor James Chessor (@JamesChessor) September 30, 2017
2nd year coach & freshman QB
4️⃣1️⃣ points #GA
5 year coach and junior qb
0️⃣points #UT
& at Neyland Stadium #vols pic.twitter.com/CbCfKQKHcM
Separately, one gentleman had a proposal:
I will post nudes on twitter if Butch Jones is fired this weekend.
— Owen Hill (@owenahill) October 1, 2017
Let’s just camp in Butch Jones’ mentions for a minute.
Well I never thought it could happen @UTCoachJones you have broken my husband
— DAT Way (@cable18) September 30, 2017
Fuck Butch Jones. Fuck this ‘excuses’ program he has sold our fan base. Fuck you and your trash ‘ecosystem’ that you push. @UTCoachJones
— Digital Dad (@DigitalDad23) September 30, 2017
Last week, Jones went on a weird rant directed at local media. Therefore:
@UTCoachJones god damn media
— RK Anderson (@RK_Anderson6) September 30, 2017
Shame on the Knoxville media if you can’t find the countless positives in the most lopsided home loss in 94 years. #Vols @utcoachjones
— G (@GFunk_Error) September 30, 2017
@UTCoachJones will bobby Petrino replace you?
— Bones (@mike_the_dick) September 30, 2017
@UTCoachJones i will fight u sir
— pey (@PeytonnBlairr) September 30, 2017
Fire HIM NOW, FULMER for Intern @UTCoachJones
— Caleb Salyers (@crazyreb12) September 30, 2017
Let’s make a super brief stop at UT’s 247Sports board.
Even Vol Nation’s children apparently offer no mercy.
My daughter just came up to me
And said that Tennessee is trash. I couldn't disagree.
And also at the school’s Scout board.
When is butch getting fired i denounce him as coach
Im not watching another game until he is gone period
Once you’ve been denounced, there’s no way back.
These aren’t even from the internet, but you should see them.
Here is a VOL BRAWL that happened in the stands:
Lets check in on the Vols pic.twitter.com/FTOKhgMnP8
— SEC Country (@SECcountry) September 30, 2017
Here are some extremely loud second-quarter boos:
More fun stuff here:
— Gray Hardison (@BellyoftheBeast) September 30, 2017
And here:
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Thanks for helping me make sports illustrated for the wrong reasons @UTCoachJones https://t.co/IeJP7ZIYHS
— Quillen B (@ChillinBlack) October 1, 2017
And here:
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And here:
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Here:
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Here:
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And definitely here:
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Tennessee fans had fled the premises by the end.
Last snap, 41-0 final. pic.twitter.com/UP7jGAH5HJ
— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) September 30, 2017
Back to the internet: A brief Q&A to take us home.
Did anyone propose hiring Les Miles yet?
Yes.
Fire Butch Hire Les Problem solved
Posted by Brad Boles on Saturday, September 30, 2017
Did anyone start a GoFundMe yet to pay Jones’ buyout?
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Are people actually going to spend money on that?
It’s possible.
Has anyone called for failed Michigan head coach Brady Hoke, UT’s DL coach, to take over? Via a Rocky Top Talk commenter:
Fire him now. Promote Hoak to interim HC, and start the search.
Has anyone suggested the Vols hire FAU coach Lane Kiffin, the man who once left them in the middle of the night to take the head coaching job at USC and has now found himself running a middling Conference USA team at 42?
Hey @Lane_Kiffin after your games over you think you could head on to Knoxville to take over for Butch or naw? #firebutch
— Scott (@msallen22) October 1, 2017
Hey @Lane_Kiffin there is a job opening up on rocky top. You interested?
— DAT Way (@cable18) October 1, 2017
At this point, I’ll take Lane Kiffin back please. #VolTwitter
— Josh C (@ViperTheShowOff) October 1, 2017
Are these people kidding?
Quite possibly. But when things are this dark, never assume someone’s joking.
Also, LSU lost to Troy.
There is losing.
There is losing at home.
There is losing at home to a team from the Sun Belt.
And there is losing at home to a team from the Sun Belt in the fifth game of your new head coach’s five-year contract, which carries a $12 million buyout.
We now visit with some Tigers fans to take their temperature.
First things first: Yes, there’s also a GoFundMe to buy out Ed Orgeron.
On Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET, it had raised a fraction of a fraction of a percentage point of the money that’d be needed to pay Orgeron’s walking-away money.
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At TigerDroppings.com, posters are plotting AD Joe Alleva’s demise.
In these sharply political times, grassroots activism is more important than ever. Whether you’re fighting for affordable healthcare or trying to get your school to fire its athletic director after a bad loss, real change happens on the ground.
Email addresses if you're interested in taking action
Michigan fans rallied (Fire Dave Brandon Rally) and got their AD ousted. Nebraska fired their AD within days of losing to Northern Illinois earlier this season (Nebraska ousts AD after embarassing loss).
Why can't we as a fanbase get Alleva and F.Kingremoved? It's well-documented that termination of both is completely warranted and way past overdue. These two gentleman have single-handedly made LSU a national laughing-stock. This is a $150 million per year organization and there must be accountability.
Things you can do to help: -Stop auto contribution to TAF today or Monday (I recommend email stopping contributions with CC to board members below) -Email the board as much as your time allows -Do not attend upcoming home games -Do not buy another piece of LSU merchandise -Talk to your powerful friends and legislators and put the BOS on notice -Keep pressure on the media to ask the tough questions and demand accountability for this $150 million per year revenue organization that is LSU athletics -If you know the governor, tell him his job is on the line too and he better stay out of our way -If you know the LSU BOS members, put them on notice that investigations of ethical violations and conflicts of interest are coming on them as individuals
Another way to get the regime out, per one poster: Have one of Louisiana’s smaller schools step in for the good of LSU.
Time for a state school to help LSU out
Get one of them like ULL or Nicholls to offer him the AD and head coaching job and strongly encourage him to accept it. Give whichever school hires him whatever they want. LSU can agree to play at their stadium for a few years.
Of course this is after Alleva is fired.
Infighting’s rampant on message boards, especially after a brutal loss.
This is a thing that happens. It’s also the time to delineate who’s a TRUE FAN and who’s not.
Check in here if you're a true fan
These are the times where people truly prove their fan-hood. I'm very upset and angry right now, but I'll never leave my Tigers. Check in if you'll be here during these dark days.
I bring that up just to share the first reply:
Just here for the downvote
At And the Valley Shook!, the discourse was largely reasonable. This comment is important to note ...
At least Florida had the foresight to schedule us for their homecoming
... because it came in response to this:
Hey @LSU, thanks for having us down for homecoming! We really enjoyed it!
— Troy University (@TROYUnews) October 1, 2017
The folks at R/LSUFootball had good sense of humor about all of this.
Someone brought up the plight of fans of another Louisianan football program: the South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, from The Waterboy.
How I felt before drinking my sorrows away
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Here is the problem for LSU: It doesn’t have Bobby Boucher.
Also, someone posted this:
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One person did start a thread simply titled, “Calm the fuck down.”
This is college football, and that’s never going to happen.