June Jones is a great coach

[feelthehorsepower]

I found this article which is really good which talks about our program's resurgence and how June Jones helped us get up from NOTHING.

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/20 ... int_f.html
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June Jones draws a blueprint for fast success at SMU
By John Reid, The Times Picayune
on November 04, 2011 at 7:52 AM

Making sure he could attract a proven coach to turn around the struggling SMU football program, Athletic Director Steve Orsini got commitments from 20 boosters to donate $100,000 each over a five-year period. With the private financial backing, SMU successfully lured June Jones from Hawaii three years ago by offering a five-year contract that pays him $2 million annually.

june_jones.jpg
Matt Strasen/The Associated Press
With private financial backing, SMU was able to lure Coach June Jones away from Hawaii three years ago with a lucrative contract. Jones has led the once-lowly Mustangs to bowls the past two seasons.
Jones attracted SMU’s interest after compiling a 76-41 record in nine seasons at Hawaii. Before Jones arrived at the school, Hawaii had lost 18 consecutive games. In his first season in 1999, Jones guided Hawaii to a 9-4 record and led the Warriors to a 12-0 record in 2007 before losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Since his hiring at SMU, the Mustangs’ football program has been on the upswing with two consecutive bowl appearances. When the Mustangs played in the Hawaii Bowl in 2009, it was their first bowl appearance in 25 years.

SMU finished 7-7 last season, losing to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl.

The program’s resurgence comes after having just one winning season between Jones’ arrival and the NCAA-imposed death penalty in 1989 for repeated rules violations.

"We can be successful on a national level,’’ Orsini said in a statement. "Our goal in every sport is to be in the Top 25 in the nation. Collegiate athletics can excite the whole community, build school spirit and really create a sense of community.’’

Comparable to Tulane, SMU is an urban school in Dallas that has stringent academic requirements. Jones said they struggle to land some of the top recruits in competition with Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma and several other schools for talent in Texas.

To offset the lack of blue chippers, Jones uses the pass-focused Run-and-Shoot offense. The scheme is designed to spread defenses using three- and four-receiver sets with one back in the backfield.

"Our offensive schemes allow us to compete against schools that are better than us; you don’t have to be physically as good,’’ Jones said.

"Instead of getting the 6-foot-4 guys that run a 4.4 in the 40 that are going to Texas or Oklahoma, we’ll sacrifice a little bit in speed and size. We’ll take the kids who run a 4.4 but are only 5-8 or 5-9. We’ll take defensive linemen that’s 6-5, 205 pounds but in a year and a half they’ll be 245 pounds and then at 285 in two years.’’

When Jones took over SMU’s program in 2008, he said it was in bad shape. He said the existing players didn’t think they could win.

"I felt when I came here it was going to be a five- year program to get it stabilized,’’ Jones said. "With the conditioning of our players, we looked like a Pop Warner team. I knew it would take time.’’

It appears Jones is ahead of his time frame. SMU played in the Conference USA championship game last season, losing to Central Florida 17-7.

After opening this season with a 46-14 loss to Texas A&M, SMU won five straight games, including a 40-33 overtime victory against nationally ranked TCU on the road.

Going into this Saturday’s game against Tulane, the Mustangs (5-3) have lost two straight, which most likely has ended any shot of returning to the conference championship game. Regardless, teams in the conference have taken notice of the Mustangs’ turnaround.

"They’ve had success, and they’ve built upon that success,’’ Tulane interim coach Mark Hutson said. "The attitude of the program and the confidence of their players took over. They’ve just built on that and they followed through in recruiting and it’s through this year. They’ve had some big wins.’’

SMU will play host to Tulane at its 35,000-seat on-campus stadium built in 2000, after Gerald J. Ford, who graduated from SMU, donated $20 million toward the construction costs.

SMU has embarked on a $60 million plan to build new facilities for athletics and improve existing ones. Jones said plans are now in place to build an indoor football practice facility similar to what LSU has on campus.

"We’ve had a number of people that were here and committed, but there were a lot of people apprehensive from the death penalty time that didn’t want football to get going here,’’ said Jones, referring to some of the drawbacks he faced after taking over the program. "What happened to us after our bowl win in 2009, (freshman) applications went up by 50 percent, and that was in a down economy. The one thing that changed is that we were on national television and played in a bowl game. That proved my point that football is the best marketing tool for a private institution.’’

[feelthehorsepower]

He said it back then, it's going to take time to get the program stabilized. 5 years at least. I say we give him another shot, we have gone this far and the way I see it, it will be tough to find that "hotshot" coach we are looking for. I mean for crying out loud, the man thought we were building an INDOOR PRACTICE FACILITY in 2011!! And where is that now? Oh wait, it's after the natatorium and all the other stuff we have to build first...

[sbsmith]

As long as he's here we will be irrelevant in football. He has no interest in getting this program to the next level.

[feelthehorsepower]

As long as he's here we will be irrelevant in football. He has no interest in getting this program to the next level.

Do you seriously believe that bringing a new Head Coach will move this program to the next level? At this moment in time? I say we give him a few more years until we are stabilized...3 years tops. We will hire the coach we need when the time comes, but maybe this time we just need June.

I mean give the guy a break, no one expected us to do better than 5-7 this year. We have a lot of holes in offense and defense that we needed to address, we just lost Zach Line, our D Line, O Line, Garrett just came on board! Oh and we just jumped into a new conference.

[feelthehorsepower]

As long as he's here we will be irrelevant in football. He has no interest in getting this program to the next level.

SMU needs to find its identity in football...a new image. We are not the pony express. We should create our story and build upon what June Jones has done here. He has done more in 5 years than what the other 5 coaches did in the previous 20 years...TENFOLD!!!! I say we just need to be patient and get our expectations close to reality. From being a deadbeat program to now going bowling is huge. We just need to build upon that

[sbsmith]

As long as he's here we will be irrelevant in football. He has no interest in getting this program to the next level.

Do you seriously believe that bringing a new Head Coach will move this program to the next level? At this moment in time? I say we give him a few more years until we are stabilized...3 years tops. We will hire the coach we need when the time comes, but maybe this time we just need June.

I mean give the guy a break, no one expected us to do better than 5-7 this year. We have a lot of holes in offense and defense that we needed to address, we just lost Zach Line, our D Line, O Line, Garrett just came on board! Oh and we just jumped into a new conference.

This type of apologist rhetoric is what's going to kill this program. June has no interest in recruiting and can't coach up the talent he can get well enough to beat relevant teams but you want to give him more seasons to throw away. Got news for you bud, there's no help on the way, we aren't going to be "stabilized" until June is gone. Clock is ticking on SMU's football future and 3 more years of June means another 3 years that the new guy is going to need to clean up his mess.

[feelthehorsepower]

As long as he's here we will be irrelevant in football. He has no interest in getting this program to the next level.

Do you seriously believe that bringing a new Head Coach will move this program to the next level? At this moment in time? I say we give him a few more years until we are stabilized...3 years tops. We will hire the coach we need when the time comes, but maybe this time we just need June.

I mean give the guy a break, no one expected us to do better than 5-7 this year. We have a lot of holes in offense and defense that we needed to address, we just lost Zach Line, our D Line, O Line, Garrett just came on board! Oh and we just jumped into a new conference.

This type of apologist rhetoric is what's going to kill this program. June has no interest in recruiting and can't coach up the talent he can get well enough to beat relevant teams but you want to give him more seasons to throw away. Got news for you bud, there's no help on the way, we aren't going to be "stabilized" until June is gone. Clock is ticking on SMU's football future and 3 more years of June means another 3 years that the new guy is going to need to clean up his mess.

If the guy lost interest, there is nothing we can do. I'm just saying that he is a great coach for bringing us from nothing into something. We have to build from that.

[SMULaxer]

Recruiting effort would go a long way. I want to be able to compete when we go to Ann Arbor

[Big Hoss]

Dude, we're better than we were before he got here, we get it, but seriously it was a low friggin' bar. Look at the date on this article, it was written before the ASU debacle. We've come as far as we can with him at the helm, and most of us are ready for him to move on with a tip of the cap to him as he heads out. What part of this do you NOT get?

Go look at his salary vs. other FBS coaches. He makes more than a [deleted] ton of coaches who have much better records, built up lowly programs themselves, and field better prepared teams week-in and week-out.

[feelthehorsepower]

Dude, we're better than we were before he got here, we get it, but seriously it was a low friggin' bar. Look at the date on this article, it was written before the ASU debacle. We've come as far as we can with him at the helm, and most of us are ready for him to move on with a tip of the cap to him as he heads out. What part of this do you NOT get?

Go look at his salary vs. other FBS coaches. He makes more than a [deleted] ton of coaches who have much better records, built up lowly programs themselves, and field better prepared teams week-in and week-out.

I guess you have to look at the entire picture...a lot of this is news to me as well. Maybe it is time to move on...

[Big Hoss]

Dude, we're better than we were before he got here, we get it, but seriously it was a low friggin' bar. Look at the date on this article, it was written before the ASU debacle. We've come as far as we can with him at the helm, and most of us are ready for him to move on with a tip of the cap to him as he heads out. What part of this do you NOT get?

Go look at his salary vs. other FBS coaches. He makes more than a [deleted] ton of coaches who have much better records, built up lowly programs themselves, and field better prepared teams week-in and week-out.

I guess you have to look at the entire picture...a lot of this is news to me as well. Maybe it is time to move on...

I was on the June bandwagon up until the middle of last year, then I finally had enough given our repeated issues on game days. He just isn't making it happen. I pray that our next guy takes us another step forward and we don't take a step back. But we got to take the risk at this point given how much has been invested in him (both time and money) up to this point.

[alyssa]

"A plot like this will always have a twist."

[ojaipony]

Dude, we're better than we were before he got here, we get it, but seriously it was a low friggin' bar. Look at the date on this article, it was written before the ASU debacle. We've come as far as we can with him at the helm, and most of us are ready for him to move on with a tip of the cap to him as he heads out. What part of this do you NOT get?

Go look at his salary vs. other FBS coaches. He makes more than a [deleted] ton of coaches who have much better records, built up lowly programs themselves, and field better prepared teams week-in and week-out.

I guess you have to look at the entire picture...a lot of this is news to me as well. Maybe it is time to move on...

I was on the June bandwagon up until the middle of last year, then I finally had enough given our repeated issues on game days. He just isn't making it happen. I pray that our next guy takes us another step forward and we don't take a step back. But we got to take the risk at this point given how much has been invested in him (both time and money) up to this point.

This pretty much sums up my feelings. My biggest concern is: who do we replace him with? Or, do we FORCE him to put together a stud recruiting staff and give him the budget to do so? Frankly, I think JJ has built a career (impressive without a doubt) on, as the article points out, taking basement dwellers to new heights with his schemes. But I don't think he has the interest, or ability, to make us truly competitive nationally (and with our former SWC "friends"). I'm going to enjoy watching the offensive fireworks the rest of this year and see what happens in the off season.

[Statler]

Arizona State

[SMU_Alumni11]

I'm sorry FTHP but Junes Jones is definitely not meant for college football. The name of the game is recruiting and we have yet to see a great heck even good class come through here. We were going to have one but Arizona state happen.. Also his schemes aren't good enough to beat decent teams. We need someone who can 1) recruit 2) generate excitement by: good game scheme and play to won and doesn't fall to playing not to lose. He had a upward trajectory til he got greedy and wanted a P5 program. Now he's enjoying retirement by just collecting a check and letting mumme run the offense. We need someone new.