June Jones leaves for SMU

[bodoyle]

Official on ESPNRadio

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3184911

I lost a lot of respect for Hawai'i when they announced how ridiculously cheap they are with their travel expense of $50,000 for Jones to recruit. No wonder he didn't leave the island for 3-4 years.

[crunifan]

Hawai'i is in such a difficult position athletically. They want to field good teams, but it will costs them MUCH MUCH more to even stay competitive. I mean they have to fly everywhere, and it is over 1,000 miles.

Plus, the only way they can even get into a BCS game is to be the only undefeated team in America. I can understand why the University feels it's not in their best interest to fund a football team with millions of dollars more than a normal team, just to stay competitive, so they can play in the whatever.com bowl.

With that said, I also understand why Jones would leave. Although I do think Hawai'i is a better choice than SMU.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I understand Jones leaving Hawaii, i just don't get why he picked SMU as his next destination. While watching the Georgia-Hawaii game it almost seemed like Hawaii was some sort of international team. It's obvious tough to recruit kids from the mainland to the Islands but with added funds that could have been helped. IMO Jones should ahve stayed at Hawaii until they updated the facilities and then leave. Atleast at that point he really did come full circle at his alma mater. Career wise it would have made a lot more sense to wait until a higher profile opportunity came along. Maybe he knows his gimmicky offense won't wort at the BCS level. xeyebrowx

[GeauxColonels]

I understand Jones leaving Hawaii, i just don't get why he picked SMU as his next destination. While watching the Georgia-Hawaii game it almost seemed like Hawaii was some sort of international team. It's obvious tough to recruit kids from the mainland to the Islands but with added funds that could have been helped. IMO Jones should ahve stayed at Hawaii until they updated the facilities and then leave. Atleast at that point he really did come full circle at his alma mater. Career wise it would have made a lot more sense to wait until a higher profile opportunity came along. Maybe he knows his gimmicky offense won't wort at the BCS level. xeyebrowx
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

SMU has lots of it and they're in Texas. Someone with a big ego could start dreaming big really easily there. I'm not too sure, however, that he would get a BCS coaching chance coming from Hawai'i after his team's performance against Georgia.

[Go...gate]

Gotta wonder if, after 20 years, SMU is intent on bringing its program back to life. It will be very tough, as the landscape has changed. In addition, one unexamined issue here is that SMU's academic reputation has grown in the past 20 years. They may not want to jeopardize that.

[putter]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

SMU has lots of it and they're in Texas. Someone with a big ego could start dreaming big really easily there. I'm not too sure, however, that he would get a BCS coaching chance coming from Hawai'i after his team's performance against Georgia.


I agree with you Geaux. Why is it a stretch for Jones? SMU has the facilities, they are giving him almost $2 mill per year and he can take his reputation to that hotbed of football called Texas. He took over at Hawaii when they were 0-11, I believe. I think he can easily build up SMU with the committment that the school seems to have made. There are enough quality players in Texas alone to have SMU get better. Add that to Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama and the name June Jones and every southern kid who wants to throw the ball around or catch passes will be sending tapes to SMU.

[GeauxLions94]

I agree with you Geaux. Why is it a stretch for Jones? SMU has the facilities, they are giving him almost $2 mill per year and he can take his reputation to that hotbed of football called Texas. He took over at Hawaii when they were 0-11, I believe. I think he can easily build up SMU with the committment that the school seems to have made. There are enough quality players in Texas alone to have SMU get better. Add that to Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama and the name June Jones and every southern kid who wants to throw the ball around or catch passes will be sending tapes to SMU.

I don't blame JJ for moving back to the continental US. He did a great job at Hawaii with no recruiting budget and huge travel costs.

He'll definitely get a lot of calls and tapes from prospective recruits based on his reputation but how many of those kids can actually get into SMU?

[TheValleyRaider]

Gotta wonder if, after 20 years, SMU is intent on bringing its program back to life. It will be very tough, as the landscape has changed. In addition, one unexamined issue here is that SMU's academic reputation has grown in the past 20 years. They may not want to jeopardize that.

Football can also help ones' reputation, especially in Texas. TCU went through this several years ago. They were in danger of becoming a "Girl's School," because Texas guys didn't want to go to a school with a weak program. TCU put some money into the team, and their male enrollment began to increase. They're about 60-40 girls right now, which is higher than they've been in years. As much as guys like to think that a school with that many women is attractive, you also want to have some other guys around. Some balance is good (just not too much balance ;))


Add that to Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama and the name June Jones and every southern kid who wants to throw the ball around or catch passes will be sending tapes to SMU.

Agreed. Once they start to show signs of life, he's going to get the kids who really want big passing numbers to show up at his door. Given the choice between SMU in Dallas, and a similarly pass-first offense at Texas Tech, don't be surprised if SMU suddenly becomes a name again.

[lambertjr]

I wonder how many years it will take for the next record passer to be at SMU?

[OB55]

I say, Oahu is a dump. Sounds great, but the place sucks. Just a huge city full of Japanese, and the natives that are there hate outsiders. Not that much to do either.

I don't want to live in Texas either, no offense please, but football is king there, and he has an opportunity to grow and expand. Having his salary doubled surely didn't hurt his decision any either. xwhistlex

[mountaineertider]

SMU already has a pretty good QB in Justin Willis, if he buys into the system, he could put up sick numbers.

[danefan]

Just announced on the halftime show.

Can't really blame him. He was operating on a $50,000 recruiting budget at Hawaii. That's nuts for the amount of travel needed to recruit to Hawaii. He's really done a great job with what he was given. Who takes the Hawaii job now?

I'm available......who do I send my resume to?

[Franks Tanks]

I don't blame JJ for moving back to the continental US. He did a great job at Hawaii with no recruiting budget and huge travel costs.

He'll definitely get a lot of calls and tapes from prospective recruits based on his reputation but how many of those kids can actually get into SMU?


If the school wants to win FB games they will let the players in. ie Notre Dame at the end of the Lou Holtz era, they let in Ricky Waters, not a Rhodes Scholar

[JohnStOnge]

With that said, I also understand why Jones would leave. Although I do think Hawai'i is a better choice than SMU.

SMU has made tremendous investments in facilties and has boosters ready to contribute millions and millions of dollars to the program. And it's located in the metro area that typically yields the highest number of FBS football scholarship signees of any metro area in the country. Yes, even more than the Miami metro area when it comes to FBS scholarship players. And it's second to the Miami metro area in NFL player production.

And of course, it doesn't get any better than Texas when it comes to production of college football players among States.

He's got a challenge to get the momentum going. But if he can get to the critical mass of that momentum, he's in as talent-rich an area as there is in the country supported by rich boosters. SMU should have a lot more potential than Hawaii does.