Former Tennessee coach Butch Jones certainly lived it up after his current employer, the Alabama Crimson Tide, beat up on his old team Saturday. That, it turns out, has sat very poorly with one of his former players.
Jones was doused with Gatorade and smoked a postgame victory cigar after Alabama’s 58-21 win at Tennessee, the team that fired him last year. Some of these photos went viral, and former Volunteers cornerback Brian Randolph, who played three years under Jones, was not impressed.
“Man, that was ridiculous. He knew he shouldn’t be doing that,” Randolph told David Ubben of The Athletic. “You go from last year getting beat by 38, and after the game he’s smoking a cigar, getting doused by Gatorade like he won the championship. I just felt like there’s no place for that. It’s not like you’re the head coach of Alabama. You left Tennessee and came to Alabama to be a quality control guy and you’re getting doused up by a team that you preached for the last five years that you hated. So, I didn’t think much of it. It shows you, pretty much, his character in my opinion.”
Randolph wasn’t alone in his assessment. Former Vol Albert Haynesworth also found Jones’s celebrations to be ridiculous.
@CoachButchJones I mean @AlabamaFTBL won against a team YOU put together! But you’re smoking a cigar like you accomplished something?!?! You act like you called the plays or had something to do with the game plan for them. Does the player next to you even know your name Lyle? pic.twitter.com/kLeyuGY4sD
— Albert Haynesworth (@haynesworthiii) October 21, 2018
These guys would probably point to Nick Saban’s description of Jones’s role as further evidence that he doesn’t deserve much credit for the Crimson Tide’s performance. Ultimately, though, to the victors go the spoils.
