The Early Years

Born on January 17, 1968, in Saugatuck, Michigan, Lyle Allen (Butch) Jones Junior is the University of Arkansas’ head football coach, and also a former American college football player.

After graduating from Saugatuck High School, Jones stayed in Michigan to attend Ferris State University in Big Rapids. During his time there he proved to be a versatile player on the football team, playing not only as a running back but also as a wide receiver and cornerback.

During his time at Ferris State, Jones gained invaluable experience as an intern for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Head Coach Ray Perkins. This naturally gave him a head start amongst his peers when embarking on his professional career as a football coach, which he began after he graduated in 1989.

Coaching History & Timeline

Jones started his career as a graduate assistant for the Scarlet Knights at Rutgers University in 1990.

After gaining some experience he was hired as the offensive coordinator at Wilkes University, where he remained for two seasons before returning to his alma mater in 1995.

Initially as a running backs coach, he finished his first season at Ferris State and was promoted to the role of Offensive coordinator for two seasons.

He gained further momentum when he was hired as the tight ends coach for Central Michigan University’s football program. Having played in various positions during his own college years, between 1999 and 2004 he was tasked with oscillating between wide receiver coach, running back coach, offensive coordinator and running back coach again.

After a long run at Central Michigan, Jones became the wide receivers coach at the University of Virginia, before Central Michigan hired him again, this time as Head Coach in 2007 for three seasons.

He had a winning record during his time as Head Coach, going 27-13, so it’s no surprise the Bearcats at the University of Cincinnati wanted him to help them take their game to the next level.

Butch Jones worked his magic and finished his three seasons at Cincinnati with a 23-14 record before he moved on to coach the Volunteers at the University of Tennessee in 2013.

Jones’ first season as Head Coach for the Volunteers began strongly, beating Austin Peay State University in a shutout 45-0 and then beating Western Kentucky 52-20.

However, the Volunteers struggled the rest of the season, only able to win a further three matches finishing the season 5-7.

Clearly, keen to redeem himself, Jones led the Volunteers to a 7-6 win for the 2014 season, but it wasn’t until his third season in 2015 that he delivered the results he was so famous for.

The Volunteers had a winning season in 2015 going 9-4, and this included winning six consecutive games to close out the season.

The Volunteers went 9-4 the following season, before Jones’ last season ended in a 4-8 loss in 2017.

This is not the season Jones would have wanted and it signaled the end of his time as Head Coach for the Volunteers.

In 2018 he was hired by the University of Alabama as an offensive analyst for one season, after which he became the Assistant Director of Athletics in 2020.

Present Day

Jones is currently the Head Coach at Arkansas State University.

In 2021, Arkansas State University hired Jones to be their football program’s head coach, where he had an awful opening season. The Red Wolves finished the 2021 season 2-10, and lost the following season 3-9.

For the 2023 season, the Red Wolves had a brutal opening match losing 0-73 against the University of Oklahoma followed by a 3-37 loss against the Tigers from the University of Memphis.