Butch Jones says there’s no time for rest when it comes to rebuilding a perennial football power that’s fallen on hard times:

“I evaluate myself hour by hour, minute by minute.  Every night when I kind of slow down a little bit, I always replay the day over in my mind.  What would you have done differently?  How could you have done it better?

I think that’s all part of being a competitor, but I think the big thing is making Tennessee football better each and every day, whether it’s interacting with our fans, whether it’s recruiting, whether it’s developing our players.  That’s what we need to do to continue to grow and elevate our program back to its rightful place among the elite of college football.”

One of two dominant teams in the 1990s — along with Florida — Tennessee hasn’t won the SEC Championship Game since 1998 and hasn’t finished in the national top 10 since 2001.  Jones is fourth Volunteer coach in six seasons, following Phillip Fulmer (2008), Lane Kiffin (2009) and Derek Dooley (2010-12).

SEC Tournament Wednesday Night Results
Mississippi State 70, South Carolina 59
Texas A&M 71, Auburn62
Thursday SEC Tournament Games…
LSU vs Georgia…Tennessee vs Mississippi State…Vanderbilt vs Arkansas…Texas A&M vs Missouri
Florida’s Billy Donovan was named the SEC’s Coach of the Year
Georgia F Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was named the SEC’s Player of the Year
Vanderbilt DT Jared Morse is currently away from school after breaking a team rule, though coach James Franklin is hopeful he can return
East Tennessee State is considering re-starting its football program and on top of the school’s wish list of coaches is former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer
In 2011-12, Kentucky made $21.6 million in basketball revenue, tops in the SEC
Ole Miss made $5.9 in basketball revenue in 2011-12, the worst number in the SEC

For a guy in another conference, DeLoss Dodds spends a lot of time talking about schools in the Southeastern Conference.  The Texas AD referenced a current SEC coach and a former SEC coach in an attempt to fend off critics of Longhorn football coach Mack Brown:

“I love stability.  I love continuity.  If you have stability, you have continuity and you’ve got good people.  It’s a formula that works.  I think we’ve got that.  If somebody tells me we need to change, I say, “Ok, but who should we hire?  (Nick) Saban?  Well, Saban isn’t going to come here.’ …

Mack does t so much better than everyone I’ve ever seen.  Instant gratification.  We want it right now.  And if it’s not working, we want to blow it up and get instant gratification.  In this kind of world, that’s not necessarily the answer.”

According to the reporter from The Daily Texan — the university’s student newspaper — Dodds also used the turmoil at Tennessee to defend his coach:

“Dodds pointed out that after Tennessee let go of Phillip Fulmer following several mediocre seasons, the Volunteers didn’t recover.  They went 23-37 in the last four years under Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley, who was fired last November.  Dodds doesn’t want that to happen to Texas.”

With regards to Saban, Brown is right… he won’t leave Tuscaloosa for Austin.  It’s not easy for even the biggest schools to snag proven, big-name coaches from big-time programs.  Florida’s last three head coaching hires have been two assistants and a guy from Utah.  Oklahoma’s last hire was an assistant.  Ohio State hired a man out of retirement to follow a man it hired from the FCS level.

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The names we’re about to mention have all been mentioned to us by more than one source.  At least one of those sources — for each name — has been inside or close to the SEC program in question.  We’ve also spoken today with an industry source who’s provided a bit more information.  At any rate, we feel strongly enough about these rumors to float them to you as rumors.

Here goes:

Arkansas

John L. Smith status:  Done

Likely candidates:  Gary Patterson.  We wrote last month that we were hearing AD Jeff Long was strong on Patterson and now that story is only growing louder.  Check the web and you’ll quickly find that Patterson is building a house in the Fort Worth area, but if he sees Arkansas as a better and better-paying situation than the one he’s got at TCU, you can forget the house thing.  He can afford to build a bigger house in Fayetteville if need be.  We’ve been told “this one is all but done.”  Negotiations can always blow up and deals can always fall through.  We know that.  But if there’s no fire with the Patterson-to-Arkansas talk, then Long has put out one of the best smokescreens ever.  Patterson said today of the Arkansas rumors:  “I don’t think there’s anything to that.”  How’s that for a non-denial denial?  Tommy Tuberville — an Arkansas native — is also interested in the Razorback job.  Very interested.

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Kentucky’s decision to replace Joker Phillips as head coach has officially opened the door on America’s annual speculation season.  The race to find out who UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart will hire is on and it will likely provide a landslide of misinformation, Twitter and messageboard rumors and, sadly, some flat-out lies (for the sake of grabbing pageviews).

That’s what the media provides these days.  Because that’s what fans want these days.

We can tell you that various outlets from The Lexington Herald-Leader to Kentucky’s Rivals site CatsIllustrated.com (paywall warning) to AthlonSports.com have already posted candidate lists and “hot boards” for fans to peruse.  In addition, John Clay of The Herald-Leader has tossed out longshot Mike MacIntyre of San Jose State as a possibility.  Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports writes — as we did a few weeks ago — that Bobby Petrino won’t be among the candidates, but a number of assistant coaches in the college and pro ranks will be.

At MrSEC.com, we’ll simply pass along the three names that we’ve heard most often from folks in or close to the Kentucky program.  Names of men that we believe Barnhart will have an interest in speaking to.  Names of people who might also be interested in the Wildcats’ job.

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The SEC has five teams ranked in the top eight of the latest BCS standings…
#1 Alabama, #5 LSU, #6 Georgia, #7 Florida and #8 South Carolina
More than 1,000 people turn out in Columbia, South Carolina Monday afternoon to wish running back Marcus Lattimore a quick recovery and happy 21st birthday
Lattimore tore “several ligaments” in his right knee as it was hyperextended during Saturday’s game, not expected to be career-ending
Sources tell MrSEC.com that Arkansas’ top choice as a new coach is TCU’s Gary Patterson
Sources tell MrSEC.com that Jon Gruden and Bobby Petrino will be Tennessee’s top choices should the school fire Derek Dooley
Sources tell MrSEC.com that Kentucky will have an interest in Phillip Fulmer, David Cutcliffe and Sonny Dykes if Joker Phillips is fired
Follow all the SEC news and scuttlebutt at MrSEC.com on on Twitter at twitter.com/mrsec

The SEC has five teams ranked in the top eight of the latest BCS standings…
#1 Alabama, #5 LSU, #6 Georgia, #7 Florida and #8 South Carolina
South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore’s knee injury versus Tennessee on Saturday is not expected to be career-ending
Lattimore tore “several ligaments” in his right knee as it was hyperextended during Saturday’s game
Sources tell MrSEC.com that Arkansas’ top choice as a new coach is TCU’s Gary Patterson
Sources tell MrSEC.com that Jon Gruden and Bobby Petrino will be Tennessee’s top choices should the school fire Derek Dooley
Sources tell MrSEC.com that Kentucky will have an interest in Phillip Fulmer, David Cutcliffe and Sonny Dykes if Joker Phillips is fired
Follow all the SEC news and scuttlebutt at MrSEC.com every single day of the year

Tennessee’s Derek Dooley is in one messed up situation.  First, when he took over the Tennessee program, he became the school’s third coach in three years.  Phillip Fulmer’s ouster and Lane Kiffin’s unexpected exit led to so much attrition that it was thought Dooley would get three or four years to turn things around.

But since that hiring:

1.  Tennessee has hired a new athletic director who did not hire Dooley.  Many of the same boosters who helped decide on Dooley are still in Knoxville and still writing checks, but Dooley is not AD Dave Hart’s “guy.”

2.  The coach lost to Kentucky to end last season which led many Vol fans to make up their minds about Dooley well before the end of any third or fourth season.  Tennessee hadn’t lost to the Wildcats since 1984.

3.  Hart has made it abundantly clear that due to past buyouts and parting gifts paid to ex-coaches and ADs, the athletic department’s reserve fund is running on empty and UT has a massive debt at the same time.  Think of the Tennessee program as Greece.

With all that in mind, can UT afford to buy Dooley out, pay off a number of his assistants, pay a new coach’s buyout from his current school, and offer up enough cash salary-wise to lure in a name coach who’ll have to be UT’s fourth coach in six seasons?

Or with its current budget can UT afford not to dismiss Dooley.  The lifeblood of any athletic department is football-related — tickets sold, donations given, concessions, parking, merchandise, etc, etc.  Those will all surely drop further next season if Dooley returns.

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An MRI on Friday revealed why Derek Dooley had been feeling pain for several months — he had a fracture in his hip and needed immediate surgery.  That surgery came yesterday.  And because of it, Dooley’s fracture may be a bad break for a second reason.

Heading into what’s possibly the most important game of his career Saturday night in Starkville, the coach will miss practice today and could miss practice again tomorrow.  He’ll also have to coach Saturday night’s game against Mississippi State from the press box.

For a team desperate for a win, the Vols will now have to deal with not having their head coach on the sideline with them.

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Three coaches and 14 players were elected to the College Football Hall of Fame today and three of them have connections to schools now in the SEC:

Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer – who posted a 152-52 record at his alma mater before being forced out — joins a host of Vols already in Hall, including ex-UT coaches Robert Neyland and Doug Dickey.

Former Texas A&M coach RC Slocum — who posted a 123-47-2 record before being forced out  – says his election is “validation of the players, the assistant coaches and the entire staffs I was so fortunate to work with here at Texas A&M.”

The election of former LSU tailback Charles Alexander — a two-time All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist — “is an important recognition for one of the legendary figures in LSU athletics history,” according to Tiger AD Joe Alleva.

Congratulations to all three men.  You don’t get much higher honors than being voted into your sport’s hall of fame.