Report: Butch Jones eyeing Maryland job

A day after reinstating him on Tuesday, the University of Maryland fired head football coach DJ Durkin on Wednesday night following a three-month investigation into his conduct towards player in the weight room and on the practice field.

On Thursday, a number of names had already appeared as potential candidates for the now-vacant job. Some of those names included Syracuse head coach Dino Babers, Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano and USF head coach Charlie Strong. But one of the more interesting names to appear is former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones.

According to TerrapinSportsReport.com on Thursday, Jones appears to be interested in pursuing the job.

The 50-year old Jones is currently serving as offensive analyst on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama.

Prior to his 5-year stint in Knoxville, Jones got his first head coaching gig at Central Michigan where he finished 27-13 overall between 2007 and 2009. Jones took the Cincinnati job-replacing now-Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, prior to the 2010 season.

At Cincinnati, Jones lead the Bearcats to two Big East titles and went 23-15 in three seasons before taking the Tennessee job in 2012.

Jones’s time at Tennessee was full of ups and downs and ultimately, the downs cost him his job. The Vols were on the brink of clinching their first SEC divisional title since 2007 after showing signs of promise in 2013, 2014 and 2015, but upset losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt down the stretch kept them from Atlanta in 2016.

After a 4-8 campaign in 2017-the worst in program history-Jones was fired following a 17-50 loss at Missouri.

While it is not yet clear the interest in the job is mutual, Jones being hired by Maryland would mitigate the current buyout of $8.26 million that Tennessee still owes him and pays him monthly.