Tennessee and Alabama will renew its rivalry Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
The matchup will be former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones’ eighth contest in the series – five for the Vols (2013-17) and third with Alabama (2018-20).
Jones has been an analyst for the Crimson Tide during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, working closely with six-time national championship head coach Nick Saban. He has since moved into the role of being a Special Assistant to the Head Coach in 2020.
In 2018, Craig Kuligowski served as associate head coach and oversaw the defensive line for Alabama.
Kuligowski played at Toledo and Saban was his head coach in 1990. He went on to coach under Gary Pinkel for 25 years at Toledo and Missouri.
While coaching in the Mid-American Conference, Kuligowski crossed paths with Jones who was an assistant at Central Michigan. He later, again, competed against Jones while at Missouri in the SEC East.
“We did kind of cross paths there, but obviously, we got to know each other a lot better working together at Alabama,” Kuligowski said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” of his time with Jones.
Kuligowski discussed Jones’ desire to become a head coach again as he continues to work alongside Saban.
“I think he deserves another chance,” Kuligowski said of Jones. “I think he did a really good job at just about every place that he has been. It’s a tough business, it’s college football. It’s inevitable that you are going to be fired at one point or another, there’s two kinds of college coaches – those that have been fired and those who will be fired.
“Even Coach Saban was fired way back when. It does happen in this business. Certainly it has nothing to do with his ability to be a great coach, and everything is a learning experience – he should be able to carry that forward and lead another program successfully.”
The entire interview with Kuligowski can be listened to here or below.