ESPN

[Pony^]

June Jones will be introduced at a news conference today as the head coach at SMU, according to three sources familiar with the decision.

On Sunday, a source told ESPN that SMU was close to finalizing the details of a contract for Jones. The source said that Jones' contract is expected to be for five years at close to $2 million per year. The deal is expected to be booster-funded. SMU athletic director Steve Orsini reportedly has sold as many as 20 boosters on the concept of donating as much as $100,000 per year for five years.

Jones' agent, Leigh Steinberg, told The Associated Press on Monday that his client was still deciding. The AP reported that Jones had been moved by the statewide effort to keep him at Hawaii, where he built the Warriors from a winless team to a perennial contender in the Western Athletic Conference, Steinberg said.

"It's just turned into an enormous issue there with the whole state rising to the occasion," Steinberg said. "He's been sitting and dealing with these hundreds of e-mails, people saying Hawaii would fall into the pit of the ocean if he left."

Jones spent Sunday in Dallas meeting with SMU officials and the search committee that has been working since late October to hire a replacement for Phil Bennett.

As the day went on, more and more people from the island reached out to Jones, hoping to convince him to return to the Hawaii program he's guided to national prominence the last nine years. They were rallied in part by reports of a letter he'd sent friends saying that he was going to be resigning.

During a dinner with SMU officials Sunday night, Steinberg said he expected Jones to pick between the schools within a few hours. Around midnight, he called that prediction "unduly optimistic," mostly because of how emotional Jones had become. Steinberg said his client had tears in his eyes at times.

"June loved the (SMU) facilities, the support was terrific -- their actions were tremendous," Steinberg said. "On the other hand, there's been this torrent of e-mails and phone calls in the most dramatic fashion imploring him to stay.

"They talked about how unique his place is in the culture of the islands, what he means to the youth of the island, the economy, the morale and spirit, what a devastating impact it would have if he were to leave, how close he is to their heart and how much they love him. It's so unique. I haven't seen something quite like this."


Jones, who turns 55 next month, has gone 75-41 with the Warriors, including 4-2 in bowls. His teams finished first in the WAC twice and second two other times.

Bennett was the fourth coach to lead SMU since it came off the death penalty in 1989. The Mustangs are 58-153-3 in that span. The on-field struggles have been compounded by the long, slow hunt for Bennett's replacement.

The search has taken about 10 weeks, with SMU going from the first major college with a vacancy to the only one left without a coach. The school received permission to speak with Jones on Dec. 24.



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

[huskerpony]

Already posted