Report: Alabama expected to hire Butch Jones to analyst role

After a week of speculation, it appears that former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones is set to take on an analyst role on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama.

According to a report on Sunday from thespun.com, the announcement is expected to come sometime this week.

Under Saban, Alabama has served as a sort of defacto rehabilitation for fired coaches, such as former Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin who served as Saban’s offensive coordinator for fours seasons after being fired from USC in 2013.

In five seasons in Knoxville, Jones was 34-27 overall, including back-to-back 9 wins seasons in 2015 and 2016-but after guiding the Vols to their worst season in program history in 2017 (4-8), he was let go following a 50-17 loss to Missouri.

While his position at Alabama will take place off the field, it will be interesting to see how Jones’ career pans out.

Former Washington and USC head coach Steve Sarkisian took a similar position under Saban in 2016 before being promoted to offensive coordinator for the college football playoff and eventually leaving Tuscaloosa for the Atlanta Falcons after just one season on staff.