June to Maryland reminds me of

[Duke Blue Blood]

brilliant video posted when a bunch of dumba$$ guys said he was past his prime. We owe more to June Jones than maybe any coach in SMU history. Sometimes it takes someone else "wanting the girl" before you understand what you have.

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7624429/

[StallionsModelT]

Well said.

[ender3]

We owe more to June Jones than maybe any coach in SMU history.

Very true, and now I'm waiting for the army of folks who is going to try to convince you otherwise.

[redpony]

If we were to lose JJ at the end of the season this program would be set back to where it was before he came here. It is not good to hear his comments about coaching in the NFL. He might as well be advertising that he wants out of SMU.

GO PONIES!!!

[PonyKai]

Except for the fact that Jones has demonstrated to the outside world that that this isn't a coaching graveyard where careers go to die. The position is much more attractive than it was three years ago. That is an undeniable fact. Even if Jones gets pissy and leaves because of administration overbearing, that issue pales in comparison to an entire industry wide perception and reality that the head football coach position at SMU is a cancer to your career and should be avoided like the plague. Next time the inherent benefits to this job will actually be considered instead of people looking at the lineup of Gregg, Rossley, Cavan, and Bennett and going "Gee, do I want my coaching career to wind up like theirs has? Hmmm..."


If he were to leave, this program would be miles and miles and miles ahead of where it were before he was here. Not even close. At all.

[NickSMU17]

I don't disagree but if the reason for leaving comes out that the admin is controlling, you won't see a big name come here again...

Not to mention a loss of a recruiting class as good as the one we currently have would be a major setback...

[PonyKai]

I agree it would be a set back but we had 18 years in a row of setbacks like that with recruiting 89-08. I know that's an oversimplification and probably a bit of a stretch, but I think those problems pale in comparison to the infection festering in athletics here over a 20 year stretch.

Plus, the next guy gets what the last guy wants. June said that himself. I have to imagine there'd be severe blowback over his departure and Jones wouldn't give a BS PR line about his leaving.

[EastStang]

JJ proved you can win here and we have done some changes internally that will make coaching easier. I'm really not going to worry about JJ leaving. I love what's done and hope he stays, but I'm not going to get my panties in a wad if he takes a call or two. There will be something like 8 NFL coaching vacancies next year including the Cowgirls: Meyer, Cowher, and Gruden can't fill all of them. I don't doubt that he will get a few intriguing calls from some teams on the cusp of being successful or who have system quarterbacks who might succeed under his watch.

[Stallion]

This job is now one of the best jobs in a mediocre conference with every thing in place to win at the CUSA level with or without June Jones. Some of us actually lived through the hard times-95% of the barriers are gone. SMU will and has admitted as many academically marginal players as any school in Texas in the last 2 years. SMU has signed MORE academically marginal players than ANY school in Texas.

[NickSMU17]

I am curious as to the Hold-up of IPF...I was told this would be the big announcement this year, but I guess it fell through...

[ponyboy]

If you think June Jones wins only because of recruiting, you are blind. The biggest asset he brings is culture change. Part of that, by the way, involves tweaking with tradition to get the fanbase out of its coma. Pissed off fans are involved fans.

If he leaves, we are back to the Mike Cavan days -- a definite step up from recent history but no where near where we will be in the next few years under JJ.

[PonyKai]

Great, the culture has been changed and will continue to change. To suggest June is the only one capable of maintining a winning culture is pretty weak. He did the heavy lifting in that department, and he's very good at it. Props. But to suggest we'll roll over tomorrow and be back in the dark days of tyring to run a race after sawing our own legs off is simply wrong from a competetive angle, a recruiting angle, and a cultural angle.

[ponyboy]

I didn't say he was the only one capable of *maintaining* a winning culture. His specialty is culture *change.* And he's far from through.

[PonyKai]

Meh, I guess there's just disagreement here.

[redpony]

If he leaves IMO we will see a reversion to pre-JJ days, at least for the next year or two. The loss of some of our major recruits could really cripple us as we have no depth. We also need to consider a change in systems will probably dictate a major change in the type of personnel that we have/recruit.

GO PONIES!!!