Broncos' lobbying doesn't help Colorado fill coaching vacancy

The Broncos and Peyton Manning were unable to steer Butch Jones to the Rocky Mountains. (US Presswire)

No amount of Broncos' lobbying could sway Butch Jones to take the head-coaching job at the University of Colorado.

In recent days, executive vice president John Elway, QB Peyton Manning and coach John Fox all reached out to Jones, per various reports, all hoping to sway him to Boulder, Colo. But Jones backed away from the Buffaloes on Thursday, leaving CU's woebegone football program at ground zero in its search, with egg on its face.

"Some people involved in that are friends of mine. They asked me to do that." Fox said at his press conference Friday. "I just told him the truth: it's a great place to live. I'm a newcomer to Colorado. I know the fans here are great. I haven't been to Boulder a million times, but just relating it to Denver, I think it's a great football state, and I've been very impressed."

Jones spurned CU for Tennessee, where he will coach in a locker room named for one of the lobbyists who tried to steer him elsewhere -- Manning, arguably UT's most decorated football alumnus.

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