Coach Butch Jones says Tennessee doesn't have a culture problem

Tennessee coach Butch Jones wants to assure the public that his program does not have a culture problem.

In his first public comments since a group of women filed suit against the school for its handling of sexual assault complaints made against student-athletes, Jones stressed that the culture at Tennessee was good.

“The people that know us, they know our football program, they understand what’s going on here with all the positivity,” Jones said. “They understand that. We just have to continue to work and grow and get better and let it galvanize us and bring us closer as a football team and a football program. People who understand what we’re all about, they understand we have a good culture in place.”

On Feb. 9, a group of six unidentified women alleged in a federal lawsuit that Tennessee created a “hostile sexual environment” through indifference toward assaults by student-athletes.

While Jones did his best to say the culture at Tennessee had changed, it was hard to ignore that only a few days before Jones’ comments, defensive lineman Alexis Johnson was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment. According to University of Tennessee police, Johnson was “play fighting” with a woman in a Knoxville apartment when he placed his hands around her neck and constricted her breathing. Johnson has been suspended from all team activities.

“We take all accusations very seriously,” Jones said. “Can we continue to improve? Yeah, just like any team, company or organization. But our players have done a great job, and we have great people here at Tennessee.”

In July 2015, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) started an investigation into sexual violence at Tennessee. At the time, at least six players on Tennessee’s 2014 roster had been accused of sexual assault, including cornerback Michael Williams and linebacker A.J. Williams, who were indicted on aggravated rape charges in February 2015 and have trial dates this summer.

Still, Jones was adamant his program's culture was a positive one.

“We’ve worked very hard to build our culture,” Jones said. “We’ll continue to defend it, but we’re very proud of what we have here.”