I want to take this opportunity to thank

[CalallenStang]

Stallion - there's one thing that June was able to do that Bennett, Cavan, and Rossley couldn't, and that's get the Model fixed. You've got to admit that.

[Duke Blue Blood]

Bennett would still be our coach if Justin Willis had not beat up that gay guy.

Not saying I do not prefer JJ, but it is TRUE.

DBB

[mustangxc]

Bennett would still be our coach if Justin Willis had not beat up that gay guy.

Not saying I do not prefer JJ, but it is TRUE.

DBB

I have to disagree. That suspension made us lose 1 game that we likely would have won (UTEP if I remember correctly). Nonetheless, we went on to lose 11 games the following year and that is what sealed his fate. I would have called for his firing if in 2006 we had gone to a bowl and followed it up with a 1 win season the next year. Keep in mind that the 2007 team had most of the same pieces as the 2006 version. The key is consistency. I understand Rice being happy with cyclical success, but we should expect a bowl bid every season with cyclical conference championships.

[PoconoPony]

Do you want an example of how incompetent Herman Frazier was?

JJ knew that the horrible budget situation at Hawaii ($50k recruiting budget, no recruiting coordinator or director of football operations, etc.) was going to limit the future of the football program, so JJ offered to take a *pay cut* from his $800k salary. JJ's only condition was that his pay be used to support the football program. Frazier turned JJ down!

You know that things are bad when a *winning* football coach offers to cut his salary and the AD rejects it. The football program had one video camera to tape practices with and that was a video camera that JJ won in a golf tournament!

Now, Hawaii is 2-6 and is playing Utah State at home this week as part of Homecoming...and Hawaii is an underdog.

I think JJ's actions to save the Hawaii program at the expense of his own salary shows me volumes about the motivation and character of this man. This is leadership coupled with integrity and principles. We are very luck to have this man trying to lead us out of the wilderness.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

"The Truth is that Phil Bennett, Mike Cavan maybe even Tom Rossley would have taken SMU to bowls in either the WAC or CUSA under current bowl contracts if they were allowed to recruit guys like Marquis Frazier, Shawnbray McNeil, Sterling Moore, Rock Dennis, and get in D1A Transfers like Kennemer and allowed minimum NCAA qualifiers in"

No STALLION....the truth is those guys and their AD couldn't get it done. Why didn't they recruit guys like you listed? Botton line? They couldn't get it done....you can list a million reasons....but reality is what it is. I can sit here just as easily and claim they wouldn't have ever been able to recruit those guys...because?... because botton line they couldn't get it done. Why is it that June/Orsini were able to get the standards lowered? Was it a big accident? or maybe because they get things done! Yeah sure Bennett and Cavan just had "bad timing"....all a "big coincidence" again?.....so many schools have offered Cavan so many head coaching jobs knowing he could get teams to bowls like you say....so many have rushed to offer Bennett head coaching jobs knowing as you say "Bennett could easily take a team to a bowl under easier restrictions"......

"So enjoy your June Jones' saviour complex"

Yeah really.... SMU and it's supporters are wasting the millions on June Jones when they coulda just stuck with Cavan/Bennett and lowered restrictions...and got the same results for a lower end coach. Gosh it's hard to believe Orsini didn't consult you and save all that money. Gosh I bet all those successful millionaires should have listened to you instead of Orsini and just stuck with Cavan/Bennett with today's rectrictions.

Yeah it's so odd to be cheering on the head Football Coach of SMU on an SMU fan message board.....why I never! How dare us!....Just plain crazy!

So odd to cheer on the SMU head coach that seems to be doing a turn-around just like he did at Hawaii very unlike anything Bennett or Cavan ever did and have nothing on their resumes to compare with June Jones. Did Valdosta State ever make it to the Sugar Bowl?

but he couldn't do it without those players and in fact wouldn't have taken the job. June Jones has never taken a team to a bowl under the restrictions former SMU coaches dealt with".

EXACTLY!
Cavan didn't have the pull....to pull it off!
June and Orsini do!....It's not all a big accident of timing....it's called GetterDone!
Thats what winners do....they figure out how to make it happen....
Losers sit around and say "well I coulda should woulda if if if if if if this woulda shoulda happened"
Bennett didnt/couldnt pull it off either....an accident? Yeah sure.
Those guys couldnt demand and get it done any more than you could.

So STALLION go ahead and imply that Little Bo Peep could
coach the guys June Jones is winning with.

Diminsh June Jones and pretend it's basically just restrictions as if that can be isolated.
Go ahead and pretend just about anybody could do what June Jones is doing....
Funny Hawaii has the same standards after JJ & staff left Hawaii ...and Hawaii has gone to hell.
Oh I know I know.... it's all a big coincidence again.
It all because of injury....yeah like nobody else has injuries....blah blah....lol

[White Helmet]

June Jones has never taken a team to a bowl under the restrictions former SMU coaches dealt with.

To play Devils advocate, he has never had to try. So you can't prove he couldn't do it anymore than prove Bennett/Cavan could with the new Model.

[ALEX LIFESON]

WOW! Insane Pony, I was just going to say this is just Stallion, being his normal bitter, negative self, but, I think your post is better.

[Garret]

I think JJ's actions to save the Hawaii program at the expense of his own salary shows me volumes about the motivation and character of this man. This is leadership coupled with integrity and principles. We are very luck to have this man trying to lead us out of the wilderness.

You know what really impressed me? JJ did *not* publicize his offer to cut his salary to improve the football program. The public never heard about it until he had accepted SMU's offer and left Hawaii.

After JJ left for SMU, one Hawaii newspaper made a Freedom of Information request (or whatever that is called), looking for correspondence between JJ and Frazier. That was when the information came out that Frazier rejected JJ's salary cut offer. If it wasn't for the media making that request, JJ's sacrifice attempt would never have been known...he made the offer quietly, just like he quietly helped out the assistant coaches at Hawaii (who had to deal with the cost of living in Hawaii with the tiny salaries Hawaii paid).

[Stallion]

Great Post Insane except I have never criticized either Orsini or June Jones once for their roles in changing the Model. Great for SMU. I think its great June Jones can use my Model to prove YOUR point. About [deleted]' time. And Rossley, Cavan and Bennett proved that without my Model they couldn't win. That's the point I've made for 20 years. The reason SMU couldn't compete with its natural and traditional rivals was because they didn't have a competitive Model whether in recruiting players or recruiting Coaches for that matter.

[Pweesey]

[Garret]

Jones approached Athletics Director Herman Frazier with a unique offer. Jones was entering the fourth season of a five-year contract in which he earned $800,016 annually, half of which was paid from donations. Jones offered to sign a new five-year contract, taking a large pay cut that would reduce his annual salary to $500,000. The savings, Jones said, would be used to hire McKnight, create a non-coaching position for Davis, and boost the recruiting budget. The only stipulation was the deal needed to be completed in time for the start of spring practice in April. Frazier rejected Jones' offer. The two never discussed terms of a contract proposal again until last Thursday — the day Jones received a proposal outline from Southern Methodist University."

I went back through the archives and found the above information that was published on 1/8/2008. JJ offered to cut his salary by $300k, a huge portion of his $800k salary, and it would have paid to hire Dennis McKnight (who now coaches for SMU), hire Mouse Davis in a football administrative role, and increase the recruiting budget. I had forgotten that McKnight would have been hired via JJ's pay cut. McKnight was working as a Graduate Assistant then I believe, just like how Reinbold was a Graduate Assistant under JJ at Hawaii basically working for free until an assistant coaching spot opened up. Those were two well qualified Graduate Assistants!

http://uhwarriorquotes.blogspot.com/2008/01/jj-offered-to-take-huge-pay-cut-in-2006.html

[NavyCrimson]

Got to agree with you on this one - Stallion. Every new coach we have hired has had less & less issues to deal with in regards to recruiting. No doubt JJ is a very good coach but JJ is inheriting a program with far less stones in the road than what Rossley, Cavan & to some extent Bennett had to deal with. And that's a fact - Jack!

[Pony Soup]

unreal what is happening here. Are you guys kidding me? Let's just get a win on Saturday and then we can worry about breaking the next game. This has been great to watch but we have been 1st and 4 away from a bowl game before and fallen short.

I think this team gets it done, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've already done that twice this year.

[ozfan]

:lol:

= Insane_Pony_Posse
= stallion

= ponyfans.com

[couch 'em]

Would Jones have been able to change the 'model' if he were hired in say, 1995? Or did the failures of each consecutive coach help pave the way for Jones to make his demands?