KNOXVILLE — Butch Jones finds himself in a perilous state as the caretaker of Tennessee football.

The current state of the program is so bad that it seems he will not be able to escape with his job intact.

Jones provided a lot of heavy lifting early at Tennessee, and it is unfortunate that the program has fallen to its current state — coming off its first home shutout loss since 1994 and spiraling out of control.

But Saturday’s 41-0 loss to Georgia was not the sole reason Tennessee’s big boosters are working behind the scenes discussing Jones’ dismissal. His handling of the 2017 season, and the past two years, have not played out well off the field and that has harmed Jones’ case to continue as coach.

Let’s take a look at 10 reasons Jones is in this position.

1. Attacking the media

The fifth-year Vols head coach placed himself in an unusual situation by attacking the media when local media outlets have been good to him and have covered his program fairly.

Asked about Shy Tuttle’s orbital injury before the Georgia game, Jones said that “the injury was caused not by a teammate” and that “he landed on a helmet and that’s the truth.”

“We have to understand, what do we want out of our media?” Jones went on. “This place with the drama. These are kids and I think we all have children and we are all adults. Are we focused on Tennessee football?”

Jones continued to say that “how do we let our opponents use this in the recruiting process with fake news?”

The attack led Paul Finebaum to confront Jones and ask why he went after the media when it was not warranted.

2. Mismanagement of strength and conditioning

Jones’ most crucial part of his tenure on Rocky Top came when he relieved strength and conditioning director Dave Lawson of his duties in April 2016, months before a crucial season as SEC East favorites. The move was a player-based decision that led to Lawson being replaced by then associate director of strength and conditioning Mike Szerszen.

Jones should never have let his players be decision-makers to fit their wants. That move was a key factor in why 2016 saw a season of injuries and players didn’t have the needed accountability during the summer and throughout the season.

3. Not developing players

Lack of player development has shown in the past two seasons. Good recruiting classes have been negated by attrition as players have transferred, among other factors.

That attrition means younger players have not fully learned behind upperclassmen leadership. The roster has been decimated by injuries, so depth has been missing and the roster has not shown growth.

4. Offensive woes

The Vols were fifth in total offense in the SEC last year but have slipped to 12th (333.4 yards a game) in 2017.

Jones has a decent spread scheme philosophy that caters to the run, but it has become predictable for SEC defenses to shut down because it never changes.

Though the style emphasizes the ground game, Tennessee tends to abandon the run in the red zone when the field shortens. In the SEC, teams need the option to go under center, using a fullback at times, and the Vols have abandoned that during the past five seasons.

5. Handling of quarterback situation

Jones has elected to play junior quarterback Quinten Dormady over redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano this season and, based on results, it does not make much sense.

He said he both would play, but that hasn’t been the case. It started in the opening game against Georgia Tech when Jones did not turn to Guarantano for a spark. Jones’ mishandling of the quarterback situation carried over to a last-play loss at Florida in which Guarantano did not take a snap while Dormady struggled.

Dormady struggled again against UMass and Georgia, yet Jones elected to wait and did not call on Guarantano until the closing moments of the third quarter in both games.

6. Blaming players

After the 41-0 loss to Georgia, the coach went on The Butch Jones Show questioning his players’ investment in the program rather than focusing on why his program has spiraled out of control.

“Like I’ve told my players, if you’re not hurting, that’s a byproduct of your investment in this football program,” he said.

7. Not owning losing the SEC East

The disappointing end to the 2016 season, with losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt was tough. But Jones added angst to Vol fans’ unhappiness after those losses derailed a chance to win the SEC East and perhaps a Sugar Bowl bid.

When asked about not winning the SEC East in 2016 and whether it was disappointing, Jones said his team “won the biggest championship, and that’s the championship of life.”

8. Cliches

On top of the “champions of life” comment, Jones has added many other soundbites that have not sat well with fans.

Jones calls situations “critical,” refers to his players as “individuals,” plays that don’t go in his favor are “nuances” and everything is a “byproduct” of something. Those came after he hammered in the mantra of “brick-by-brick” ensuring that he was rebuilding the program.

9. Too much Hollywood

Often it has seemed that Jones placed more effort in the Hollywood aspect of the program when that energy could have been used in other areas of coaching and development.

It’s fine to have fun and create good vibes in college football, but the spotlight has been ongoing, whether it was promoting “Third Down for What,” taking pride in being the most followed college coach on Twitter, or even calling out Sweet Home Alabama being played over the practice field.

10. Not closing out games

The most puzzling part of Jones’ tenure is his team’s failure to close games out in the fourth quarter. Most notably the Vols squandered fourth-quarter leads to Florida in 2014, and against Florida and Oklahoma in 2015, and obviously Florida again in 2017. Had those three games turned out differently, they would have painted a different picture going forward for Jones.