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Turn-Around Man: New Coach Brings Momentum To Mustangs

June Jones has built a successful 20-year career molding downtrodden teams into champions. He intends to make the SMU football team his next success.

New head football coach June Jones has built a successful 20-year career molding downtrodden teams into champions. He intends to make the SMU football team his next success.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” he says. “I like turning teams around. My staff and I have done it before and we’ll do it again.”

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June Jones works with players during the spring scrimmage.

No brag, just a statement of fact.

Jones accepted the Mustang head coach position in January after leading the undefeated Hawaii Warriors to the 2007 Sugar Bowl. When he took over the Hawaii football program in 1999, the Warriors had lost 18 straight games, the longest losing streak in the NCAA at the time. Sports pundits criticized Jones for taking the Hawaii job, particularly after turning down a five-year, multimillion-dollar contract to continue as head coach of the San Diego Chargers.

In Jones’ first season at Hawaii, the team achieved a 9-4 record, the biggest single-season turnaround in NCAA football history.

“I knew we would be second-guessed by the media about leaving San Diego for Hawaii,” he says. “Winners always are.”

Why SMU?

With only one winning season since 1989 and more than 20 years since its last bowl appearance, SMU football is ready for revival.

“It’s easier to turn around these situations than it is going to a team that is 7-4 and already thinks it knows how to win,” Jones says.

In a January 28, 2008, Sports Illustrated interview, Jones said he had been looking for a new opportunity for about three years. “I needed to be re-energized and SMU has done that for me. People here are very motivated to win. SMU has everything in place that I dreamed about when I was at Hawaii, such as facilities and support. Now it’s my job to get it done on the field.”

Jones brings to SMU the run-and-shoot offense, a fast-paced passing game, and assistant coaches who are experienced in teaching it. Seven of nine assistant coaches have worked with Jones before.

“Retraining the team in a new offense is going to be a challenge,” Jones says. “We’ll do a lot of teaching in the classroom and on the field.”

The 41 returning letterwinners will be joined in the fall by 28 players recruited by Jones and his staff.

“It was amazing that in three weeks of recruiting we were able to attract the quality of kids that we did,” he says. And Jones doesn’t intend to redshirt many of those 28 new players. “If he is the best player, he’ll play.”

Coaching With Wisdom

When Jones arrived at Hawaii in 1999, Dan Robinson was his starting quarterback. “We were excited to have a coach with wisdom and a system,” Robinson says. “We went 0-12 the previous year and ran a different offense each game.”

Jones brought football insight, attention to detail and confidence to Hawaii’s team, says Robinson, now a dentist in Louisville, Kentucky. “He allowed me to take advantage of my strengths. I’m not the greatest athlete, but he let me use my head and make reads. He taught me to make quick decisions.

“We never saw anything in a game that surprised us,” Robinson adds. “June knew what to expect and prepared us. The practices were harder than the games.”

The preparation paid off – Hawaii won the 1999 Western Athletic Conference championship and beat Oregon State 23-17 in the O’ahu Bowl. Hawaii wrapped up that season with the second-best offense in the nation.

“Buy into June’s system and go with it,” Robinson advises current SMU players. “It is a chance of a lifetime to play for him.”

Second Chances

As a college student in 1975, Jones transferred from the University of Hawaii to Portland State University, his third university in five years.

“I played college football on three different teams and never got in a game,” Jones says. “I was going to quit, but Mouse Davis, my coach at Portland State, gave me another chance.”

Davis introduced Jones to the run-and-shoot offense that he popularized in the 1970s. “June was distraught about football when he came to us,” says Davis, now offensive coordinator at Portland State after serving under Jones as an assistant coach at Hawaii. “I think he wanted me to talk him out of quitting college football. But I knew that he would fall in love with football again with our style of play.”

Jones started as quarterback for the Portland State Vikings and finished the year with the Division II passing record of 3,518 yards. He went on to play professionally
for the Atlanta Falcons (1977-1981) and the Toronto Argonauts (1982). He began his coaching career with Toronto, turning around a 2-14 team and sending it to the Canadian Football League championship in one year. Jones later became head coach of the Atlanta Falcons (1994-96), guiding them to a wild-card play-off berth in 1995, and the San Diego Chargers (1998).

Jones is quick to credit Davis as his coaching mentor. “When I played for him I saw another way to do things,” he says.

“Every situation has made June a better coach,” Davis says. “There is absolutely no question in my mind that he will turn the football program around. SMU has an excellent tradition, alumni and facilities. I think everyone will be enthralled with him.”

– Nancy Lowell George (’79)

Legends Gather For Charity

Join Mustang football greats at a benefit for SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Foundation and the June Jones Foundation August 23 at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. The June Jones Foundation provides grants, programming and support for families of children with life-threatening illnesses and for other charitable causes.

Discussing football lore will be honorary chairs Harvey Armstrong, Jerry Ball, Raymond Berry, Eric Dickerson, Reggie Dupard, Chuck Hixson, Craig James, Louie Kelcher, Jerry LeVias, Lance McIlhenny, Ron Meyer, Mike Richardson, Mike Romo and Ted Thompson.

For more information, visit MustangLegendsforCharity.com or contact Kevin Kaplan, director of the June Jones Foundation, at kkaplan1@aol.com.

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