The man is a fount of wisdom.

Butch Jones has given us many great lines over the years. Let us take a moment to reflect back on some of his sage words.

Butch on what really matters:

“They’ve won the biggest championship, and that’s the championship of life.”

No other football team in the NCAA understands that there’s life outside of football. Fortunately, Butch is a guy who gets it, and we should all be thankful to have him in our conference. Sure football is hard work, but why play for a coach that’s not interested in winning at LIFE? I’m ready to run through a wall for this guy right now. And by “run through a wall” I mean find pieces of “Life” cereal in my car a week after the VU-UT game.

Butch on recruiting

“We’ve spoken about the competitive nature, and I think that’s really, really big in today’s world. Everyone gets into the whole two-star, three-star, four-star, five-star thing. The only five-star that we even concern ourselves with is a five-star heart. We want five-star hearts and five-star competitors.”

What chance have you at being LIFE CHAMPIONS(TM) if you don’t have the guys who can win you the title? Butch only goes after the guys who can win that life championship year after year. Talent, coachability, program fit are all meaningless. Go out there and recruit that two star LB who cant’ cover the TE. His five star heart will bring you home the only title that matters.

Butch on building a program

“I was on the phone one day and I was watching them lay the foundation, the brick of the steps outside my office, and I was watching the diligence that goes into laying the brick and I thought it’s the foundation and we are going to build a foundation that can stand the test of time, that can weather adversity. And if one brick is out of place and if one brick is missing, you are not going to have a strong foundation and it doesn’t look right,”

He’s right! You need strong players to build your squad. Unfortunately, Butch didn’t mention who is the mortar, without which your foundation of bricks is useless. I guess that would be him and his staff? I’m also unsure how needing overtime to beat a 1-AA team or losing to us fits into this metaphor, but I’m sure Butch could explain it if he were here!

Today Butch has come forward with yet another quote for us to bask in the glory of and it’s possibly his best yet.

Let me just put that into text just in case the tweet and the words are lost to the sands of time.

“The first element that goes into winning championships is contending to win championships and our program has done that.”

That’s right. You have to contend for that championship before you can win said championship. What’s that? Do I hear some Bammer pointing out that Tennessee has not been to a championship under Butch? Champions of life, friend. Champions. Of. Life.