CINCINNATI - Butch Jones has resigned as the head football coach of UC, and has been named the 24th head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers.
Jones met with the UC football team on Friday morning. UC's president Santa Ono was seen going into the Richard E. Lindner Center in Varsity Village just before the team meeting.
UC's athletic director, Whit Babcock, will address the media at a press conference scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Friday.
In a release, Babcock said, "I would like to thank Butch Jones for his time at the University of Cincinnati. With that said, we are excited about the future of this program and this job will be extremely attractive nationally. Our search will begin immediately."
Steve Stripling, who was the Bearcats Assistant Head Coach and defensive line coach, has been named interim head coach.
Jones was named head coach at UC on December 16, 2009. He holds a 50-27 career mark, a 32-12 record in conference play, has five bowl appearances, and four league championships to his credit in 6 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
Jones was 23-14 at UC and was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2011. In 2011, UC was the only program nationally to win both its conference championship as well as the league's team academic award.
According to the University of Tennessee Athletics website, Jones will be introduced today at a 2:30 p.m. press conference to be held in the Peyton Manning Locker Room at Neyland Stadium.
Jones announced on Thursday he had turned down an offer at the University of Colorado.
