Butch Jones believes the overall state of the Tennessee football program has “come a long ways” in his five years at the helm.

Specifically, Jones noted academic and program culture changes when asked about the process of rebuilding a program and his assessment of the past five years on Wednesday.

“I think we have come monumental steps from where we came, if you look at just cleaning up the character part of the program and the academics,” Jones said on the SEC coaches teleconference.

More: Firing Butch Jones, staff could cost Tennessee nearly $14 million

Jones took over the program in dire need of an improved Academic Progress Rate (APR) score in his first season, which the Vols accomplished to avoid any penalties.

Jones went on to laud on-field achievements, including a pair of nine-win seasons and three consecutive bowl wins. But while Jones pointed to accomplishments off the field and past on-field work, he also turned to the present situation and said the Vols have “a long ways to go still” as a program.

“Obviously, being 3-3 is not what we expect,” Jones said. “That’s not the expectation here at Tennessee. But we have to keep grinding.”

Tennessee (3-3, 0-3 SEC) faces No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) riding a two-game losing streak and without a touchdown since the first half against UMass on Sept. 23.

With the struggles, questions about Jones’ future with the Vols have naturally increased week-by-week. But Alabama coach Nick Saban said he believes a lot of talk like that “gets really overblown” and noted Tennessee could be 5-1 if not for a pair of “last plays of the game” against Florida and South Carolina.

Tennessee had a third game come down to the final play, which it won by stopping a two-point conversion against Georgia Tech in double-overtime.

“I think, sometimes, the media, fans, everybody gets a little bit overzealous in terms of the criticism,” Saban said. “That can be a negative. I don’t think you can allow that to affect your team or your program. The way I see these guys competing in games, I think these coaches have done a really good job of that.”

More: Vols football vs. Alabama: TV, radio, streaming, kickoff information

Jones also cited graduation rates on recent Tennessee teams — with the expectation that 100 percent of seniors will graduate this year — as one of “a lot of things to build upon.”

“We also understand love is conditional,” Jones said. “It’s what can you do for me next? We all understand that. We are as disappointed as anyone with where we’re at. But we can’t change that.

“All we can do is continue to work every single day and grow and elevate and be better for these experiences as a football program moving forward.”

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