Speaking to the media Monday, Tennessee coach Butch Jones said his senior class, which hasn’t won an SEC East title in his four seasons, are champions where it matters.
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“These individuals mean a lot to me personally, and they mean a lot to our football program," Jones said. “When we talked about winning championships. They’re a champion. They’ve won the biggest championship — and that’s the championship of life.”
The “championship of life” quote is triggering a lot of sarcasm on social media from SEC rivals and even already has been added to Jones’ Wikipedia page: “On November 21, 2016, Jones’ Volunteers won the Championship of Life, an award given by Butch Jones himself.”
We have a feeling the quote will turn into a College GameDay sign for years to come.
Although Jones was being kind to his players, it doesn’t cover for a senior class that was dragged through part of a multimillion-dollar federal sexual assault lawsuit against the school.
Here’s the rest of Jones’ quote:
“And they’re going to be college graduates, some of them are already college graduates. What they’ve brought from a leadership standpoint, from a stability standpoints, from getting Tennessee football back — it used to be just win a game, now it’s not just winning a game, it’s how you win the game, it’s not what’s next. That’s everything that they’ve built over the course of their time. I talked about being 14-3 [in last 17 games]. This football program wouldn’t be 14-3 without our seniors. I’m indebted for them — Vol for life. I’ll be a part of their life for many years to come.”
