Who Will Coach Tennessee Football in 2018?

Who Will Coach Tennessee Football in 2018?

November 13 update: Butch Jones fired, odds re-released

We’ve been tracking the odds on next Tennessee head coach after it was pretty clear Butch Jones’ days were numbered. Even though Jim McElwain of Florida was the first SEC coach fired, Jones was gone soon after and BetOnline released updated odds on who will lead the Vols in 2018. There have actually been some rumors that Jon Gruden is serious about considering the position, and he’s now the +180 favorite after opening +2000. [Odds via BetOnline]

Head CoachNov 15Nov 13Nov 9Oct 28Oct 2
Jon Gruden+180+180+250+250+2000
Dan Mullen+280+600+800+2200+1800
Mike Norvell+350+400+800+900+750
Chip Kelly+650+500+450+400+325
Les Miles+800+500+700+1400+1000
Jeff Brohm+1000+1000+700+550+450
Mike MacIntyre+1200+1200+1000N/AN/A
Bobby Petrino+1200+1200+1200+550+450
PJ Fleck+1200+1200+1400+1000+800
Tee Martin+1600+1600+1600+1200+900
Jim Bob Cooter+2000+2000+2000+2200+1800
Lane Kiffin+3300+3300+3300+10000+10000
Peyton Manning+5000+5000+5000+10000+10000
Brian Kelly+5000+5000+5000+3300+2500
Bob StoopsN/AN/AN/A+1200+900

Chip Kelly opened as the +325 favorite, followed by Jeff Brohm (+450) and Bobby Petrino (+450). Unfortunately there’s no ‘Field’ option, but all bets are refunded if someone not on the list ends up getting the job.

Since opening, bettors have been all over Jon Gruden, moving his odds from +2000 to +180. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s more likely to get the job– it just means that the public is willing to put their bets and money on Gruden in order to move the odds. Prop bets like these have lower limits and move much, much easier than a normal spread or future bet. Take the big odds change with a grain of salt, although there does appear to be some traction on it happening.

Of course with a list like this, bettors also don’t mind throwing $5 on someone like Peyton Manning at long odds, which was the case early on. The odds hadn’t budged on him whatsoever until this past week:

FWIW, Butch Jones went 26-32 ATS at Tennessee after going 19-17 at Cincinnati and 22-13-1 at Central Michigan.

Over the last couple weeks, there’s been seriously movement and speculation on Dan Mullen to Tennessee. He opened +1800, moved to as high as +2220, but has steadily dropped to +280, only behind Gruden at the moment. Many including Bruce Feldman believe he’s the perfect fit for them.

Dan McGuire

Dan McGuire is the Operations Manager and soccer specialist at Sports Insights. You can find him on Twitter (@ArsenalDMC) and he can be reached directly at dan.mcguire@actionnetwork.com.

1 Comment
  • Glenn Lemmons
    11/26/2017 at 12:18 pm

    Tennessee would be insane for not going after Les Miles, he knows the SEC inside and out and would mesh well in Tennessee Football (I doubt very seriously he would have lost to Vandy).

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