STATE OF THE PROGRAM: Seeking consistency Hawaii Bowl win was huge, but program not done growing Posted on 08/26/2010 by PonyFans.com Ever since he took over as head coach of the SMU football team in January 2008, June Jones has talked about the need to change the culture around the Mustangs’ football program. After watching the program wallow at or near the bottom of its conference for the majority of the last two decades, the skeptics had more than enough fodder. “The first thing I noticed about June Jones was his confidence — in himself, his staff, his system,” SMU director of football operations Randy Ross said. “He had a plan from the day he got here, he carried it out and he never wavered from it — not once. Even when we lost that first year (2008), he never changed, his plan never changed. He knows that his system works, and now the kids have bought in to it — they’re not just saying they buy into it. You can see the results. Director of football operations Randy Ross said the Ponies' victory in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl has helped reverse any negative perception some high school players might have had about SMU football (photo by Webmaster). “I have never been around a more positive guy than June Jones — ever. He convinced me early on that we were going to win at SMU, and he was right. Even that first year, when we lost, I believed, the coaches believed. June was so strong in his belief in his system that even that first year, it wasn’t a matter of if we could win, but when.” Ross said that before the Mustangs’ breakthrough season a year ago, many thought the Ponies were close to breaking through. SMU hadn’t won a road game since beating Tulane in New Orleans in 2006, and the close games weren’t going their way — SMU was 0-4 in Jones’ first season in Dallas in games decided by a touchdown or less. That all changed in the second week of the 2009 season. The Mustangs beat UAB, 35-33 in Birmingham, Ala. It was a close win, but it also was a conference win, and on the road, no less. “That was a good win for us,” Ross said. “It was a conference win and a conference win on the road. Beating UAB was huge for us. That win broke a lot of things. From that day forward, you could feel that this team got a little confidence.” The effects of the win over UAB extended beyond the players and the coaches. After beating the Blazers in Birmingham, the SMU coaches seemed to gain a little more traction with high school coaches when they went recruiting. “We had that confidence, and it was important for the community to see what we were building,” Ross said. “But the high school players noticed, and high school coaches noticed. They started to realize that Coach Jones was doing what he said he was going to do: build a program and win.” Of course, as the Ponies collected victories in 2009, and the idea of a bowl game started to become not just a goal but a realistic goal, the reception among fans started to change, too. “When I’d talk to people at practice, it used to be people talking about ‘how close we were last week,’” Ross said. “Last year, people were looking ahead, talking about who we were playing the next week. “The season flies by when we’re winning.” Ross said that if the victory over UAB wasn’t the most satisfying of the regular season, then that title had to go to the Ponies victory at Gerald J. Ford Stadium over UTEP, the Ponies’ sixth victory of the season and the game that made SMU bowl-eligible. “That win gave us six, and made us eligible for a bowl game,” Ross said. “I remember all of those plays, like they’re playing in slow motion. “I remember that night on the field, people coming up and hugging me — I was speechless. Then I looked around, and a guy came up and gave me a hug, and he had tears in his eyes. It seemed almost like he had lost something really valuable and then found it. “I just enjoyed it for the people who have supported this team for so long. They waited a long time to see this.” Ross said that even when victories didn't come immediately in 2008, SMU head coach June Jones never wavered from his rebuilding plan (photo by Travis Johnston). The face of the program, and the driving force behind the team’s bowl run, of course, is Jones. Ross said he already had an idea of the impact Jones makes on people from working closely with him and from reading about Jones’ tenure in Hawaii, but said he didn’t fully understand the heartbreak the Hawaiian community felt when Jones left for Dallas until he (Ross) arrived in Honolulu before the Hawaii Bowl. “I went out two weeks before the team, to set everything up,” Ross said. “I knew they loved him in Hawaii, but to be there and see how they loved him was amazing. In restaurants, in talking to people at the company where we chartered our buses, talking to the police … they all talk about him. I’m a jogger, and I can’t tell you how many times someone stopped me while I was jogging, saying, ‘we love June! We love June.’ “Everything anyone said about June and the way the people of Hawaii feel about him was an understatement — everything. I didn’t hear one negative comment about him from anyone out there. There were some people who sounded like they were mad at the (former) AD for letting him leave, but nobody held his decision to leave Hawaii for SMU against him. The Hawaiian people were very genuine when they talked about how much they like him and how much they miss him. That just shows what kind of man he is, and the effect he has on people.” Some of those people Jones hopes to impact, of course, are recruits. Almost as soon as he arrived in Dallas, Jones has talked about building relationships with high school players and coaches. Since he arrived on the Hilltop, Jones and his staff have mined the talent-rich Lone Star state for recruits. “High school football in Texas is outstanding,” Ross said. “We are so fortunate to sit in Dallas, Texas, to recruit. It’s the perfect place to recruit to. When June Jones talks to people — players, high school coaches — they listen to him, they trust him.” But the SMU coaches have started to expand their recruiting territory, reaching into California and Louisiana for players. “So many schools come to Dallas to recruit players from this area,” Ross said. “Like everybody else, we need players, and we need to find them wherever they are. (Offensive line coach) Adrian (Klemm) and (assistant head coach — offense) Dan (Morrison) have a lot of contacts in California, so of course, we’re going to pursue those.” But for all of the contacts Klemm and Morrison bring, it is still Jones who finds himself as the face and name of the program. “June’s reputation is so good from his Hawaii days that he has opened a lot of doors for us, in terms of recruiting,” Ross said. “It has been an obstacle at times, in the state of Texas, if a player has grown up with the idea that SMU wasn’t very good. But winning the Hawaii Bowl has helped that reputation change 180 degrees. “The next thing is to win consistently. We’d love to win a conference championship. We all want another winning season, and another bowl game. Those are the biggest things for this staff.