DALLAS (AP) ― Coach June Jones greatly overestimated what kind of success SMU could have on the field his first season. He admits that.
Jones says he thought the Mustangs would "probably win four or five games."
The Mustangs instead will begin their second season under Jones the same way as the first: With a 10-game losing streak and coming off a 1-11 record.
Still, Jones is making a much more public proclamation this time. He's predicting a bowl appearance for the Ponies, either "this season or next season." He adds that he'll "be really disappointed" if SMU doesn't win enough games to merit a bowl appearance this year.
That's a lofty goal for a program that has had only one winning record in the 20 seasons since returning from the NCAA death penalty for paying players and breaking rules. That winning season was a 6-5 year in 1997.
Jones knows about rebuilding awful programs. He took over a winless Hawaii team that went 9-4 his first season, the biggest turnaround in NCAA history. He was 75-41 in nine seasons at Hawaii, where his last game was in a BCS bowl, the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day 2008.
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