FanNation

Always hated them years ago, but you have to root for Jones and SMU now. Will be interesting to see how many recruits change their thinking. The good ones can play right away for a coach who knows the pro game...

50yearfan | 01/21/08, 08:36 AM

I understand Jones making the change for the $$$$$, but what kid in their right mind chooses SMU over any other D-1 program? I guess I'm missing something here.

EastCoastKeith | 01/21/08, 08:45 AM

Keith-He lives in Texas, so it may be a local team. Who would have thought that Colt Brennan was going to be a Heisman finalist five years ago? Jones made Brennan.

IrishR#1 | 01/21/08, 09:16 AM

I have a feeling Jones may be the guy to return SMU to it's former status before the death penalty.

Bullday | 01/21/08, 09:28 AM

Just goes to show you now much influence a coach has at a school now look what Hawaii just lost because they are to cheap

cusefan21 | 01/21/08, 09:32 AM

I expected the Mitchell switch. He's a Texas kid who was going to Hawaii for the Coach. Now that the Coach is in Dallas...why not switch?

J. HOVA: MISTER UNTOUCHABLE | 01/21/08, 03:02 PM

It's June in January in Dallas!

George W. Watson | 01/21/08, 04:27 PM

Hawaii is so stupid. That is the dumbest move by an athletic department I have EVER seen.
I mean, what were they thinking?
In no time, Hawaii will be mud again.
I wish June all the best and Hawaii.... well, your volcano just blew up.

PARTYPIMP | 01/21/08, 07:43 PM

Hawaii is so stupid. That is the dumbest move by an athletic department I have EVER seen.
I mean, what were they thinking?
In no time, Hawaii will be mud again.
I wish June all the best and Hawaii.... well, your volcano just blew up.

PARTYPIMP | 01/21/08


PP, you're an idiot. Hawaii is not stupid and did not make the "dumbest move by an athletic department EVER seen. I agree, however, that Hawaii did not make a good move. The fired AD should have been more proactive; MAYBE HE was an idiot; the state and the school were not. BUT, what do you do when a school is 2 hours behind the West Coast during regular time (meaning they are 3 hours behind PACIFIC TIME during the first 2 months of the football season)? The school CANNOT get air time. For the games to be shown at noon on the East Coast, they would need to start at 6:00 a.m. Hawaiian Time in September and October, meaning games would have to start at 6:00 a.m. the rest of the year to start at 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast (Hawaii does not observe Daylight Savings Time). If they started at noon in Hawaii, they would start on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m./ 5:00 p.m. depending on the Daylight Savings Time differential.

It's a tough draw having a program on the most remote land mass in the world, especially when some of the most storied programs have refused to make the trip. Until the University creates an accommodation for visiting teams that equals the hospitality of Waikiki at an economical price for the visitors and until it upgrades the practice, coaching, training and game facilities, it is doomed to be relegated to legacy of years past.

No doubt, there have been horrific failings in the program. But, the Colt Brennan years were brief. June did a great job, but no doubt the meteoric rise of the program under June and Colt was neither anticipated nor foreseeable. Call the program shortsighted. Don't call it stupid. I am as much an aggrieved fan as anyone. However, when dollars are precious as much as the fans and TV dollars are non-existent, I challenge you to put a budget for a football program together in Hawaii, PP.

localboy54 | 01/22/08, 12:25 AM

Good luck to Mitchell as he'll be just one of many QB recruits that Jones is going to have fighting it out for a chance at being the starting guy. But that is only part of the equation as getting quality receivers with good hands who can also make plays after the catch is also important.

And for all of JJ's horn tooting, he never really had a whole bunch of highly touted QB's & WR's knocking at his door. If this Mitchell kid is so good, why the heck weren't other D-1A/FBS schools going after him? Colorado School of Mines? Give me a break. And the only reason he got onto Hawaii's radar in the first place was because a current UH player who had graduated from Katy passed on the 411 to QB coach Morrison to take a look at Mitchell. Another thing is JJ isn't always correct in his assessment. I mean look at Timmy Chang for example. Yeah he put up these huge numbers but look at also how much INT's he threw. Did UH win the WAC or were they ranked consistently in the top 20 during this time? The answer was no. Plus the kid was a wreck off the field and not leadership material which is why he ended up not making it at the next level. Yet Jones kept pumping him despite the fact that he had far more talented individuals deeper in the roster (many of whom ended up transferring since once JJ makes a selection, he pretty much sticks with that guy no matter what because his own ego prevents him from admitting when he is wrong). If Chang hadn't gotten injured, Nick Rolovich wouldn't have gotten his 2nd chance. It was like night and day with how he made things look second nature compared to Chang's inconsistent play.

JJ really lucked out with Colt Brennan and also having a receiving corp made up of guys like Bess, Grice-Mullen, Hawthorne, and Rivers. It was like the perfect storm. When you have a group that were able to read each others minds like they could, the offense became like clockwork and the potential of the R&S that Rolovich showed in the latter half of the 2001 season became reality in 2006 and 2007. However what people ought to realize is that in 2005, Brennan struggled getting used to JJ's system which was why they went 5-7 that year. It wasn't until after the season was over when something went off in Brennan's head and everything just made sense. This is what Rolovich also said as he sat in a backup role to Chang because initially, he didn't do as well in practice (part was his fault for sort of being a slacker).

Kim Chee Breath | 01/22/08, 03:31 AM

Not every Univ of Hawaii football fan was a fan of June Jones. Need proof? Look at the attendance during his tenure compared to when Dick Tomey and Bob Wagner were the coaches. UH easily averaged 43,000 during those years whereas JJ had trouble getting even 35,000 people into the stands except for a select few games. Those two previous coaches also had a tougher WAC to play in compared to the Jones era so JJ's record should have been much better. Yet JJ despite all his self-proclaimed accolades managed only one shared and one outright WAC championship in this weaker version of the conference. His teams also tended to get blown out against the stronger BCS opponents whereas the Tomey and Wagner era squads hardly ever got blown out in that manner. The fact that Jones got creamed by USC in his very first game and was smoked by Georgia in his very last game shows how little progress he made in that department. Why is this? Because JJ has a tendency to not stress defense. The only times UH fared well in that area during the JJ era was when McMackin was the DC. Look at the stats over the years to see where they ranked defensively. The Tomey and Wagner eras were much better since both coaches stressed defense. The McMackin era bolds well for UH because of this as he can stress defense at a higher priority level than JJ was willing to do and since he doesn't have that JJ level of ego and arrogance, the fans will eagarly return to the stadium. The fact that JJ is no longer the HC at UH is already paying dividends. Recruits from Kahuku HS which had issues with how JJ did things are planning visits this coming weekend.

Oh, and for all of JJ's grandstanding in the national media this past season about "recruiting Colt Brennan out of prison", that's a bunch of BS because the person responsible for recruiting Brennan was Rich Miano. SMU fans are going to find out pretty quickly that JJ likes to paint this picture of himself which puts his image in a positive light. They'll also find out what happens when he starts making the same sort of comments that made him the most hated head coach by other WAC members fans. When he says he has his own style of recruiting, you folks really won't find out what he means until maybe 1 or 2 more recruiting classes. But just like how plenty of Hawaii fans who put JJ on this pedestal ignored and defended some of his responses, SMU fans are also going to do the same.

Kim Chee Breath | 01/22/08, 03:38 AM

Kim Chee, I agree with many of your points since I was a season ticket holder during the Tomey and Wagner years, as well as the beginning of the Jones era. There were many exciting games, esp. during the Tomey years, when guys like Jason Elam, Bernard Quarles, Anthony Edgar et al, did their thing. Attendance WAS better in those days, although you can't argue with Jones' success. It may or may not have been luck, but Hawaii was never as relevant as they were this year.

One thing for sure which added to attendance: they had a tougher schedule, in a tougher WAC with Utah and the BYU rivalry was tops. I got season tickets for the BYU games, mainly, and also the non conference games which almost always included teams like Nebraska, USC and Big 10 schools.

That game against Nebraska with Turner Gill still resonates in my memory. Yeah, UH lost, but it was close and really fun to watch. Their schedule this year did not excite me, to tell you the truth, and I hold the idiot AD responsible for that.

I thought they should have gone after Norm Chow or some other offensive mind, but I don't have a problem with McMackin, either. He DID improve the defense and he does have the respect of the players who are coming back.

As for Bo Mitchell, he is undersized and probably doesn't have a major league arm; we'll see how he does at SMU. He's the same size as Tyler Graunke, who he would not have beaten out next season. The real loss was the BYU transfer QB who ended up in Tulsa.

It will be a very interesting time for UH football, which is the only real game in town. They need a better schedule to attract more fans. MMMM, the tailgate parties....lau lau, poke, Kahlua Pig, the Portuguese sausages.....drool.

Juice Boy B-12 | 01/22/08, 02:14 PM

He just threw away every chance he had to make it to the pros. What that being said, I hope Jones turns that program around

11Fitzgeraldfan | 01/22/08, 08:37 PM

I can't wait for UH's season to start against Florida in Gainsville, I'll be up there for that game and it will be pretty exciting. I'm a Saint Louis Alumnus and know all about Coach Cal's and Ron's coaching style, having played under Coach Cal. The offense is going to be better with the quarterbacks taking snaps from under center and not the shotgun, that's where JJ went wrong, only taking snaps from shotgun, now teams will have to worry about the run and the pass and they won't know which way the run is going, as in the shotgun they knew 90% of the time where the run was going if there ever was going to be one.
They defense is in very good shape as they have three of the best linebackers in the WAC maybe even in the country coming back, in Soares, Leonard, and Eliminian. The D-Line looks to be in good shape only losing Lafaele but have Watson & Laeli in the middle and Veikune, and Fonoti on the outside. the only weakpoint I think the defense has is the cornerback position as they lost their two starting corners, but the position battle is looking really good and I'm looking forward to that.
I think the offense will do fine, this redefined spread offense still uses a four wide receiver set yet the receivers read the defenses coverage and adjust their routes accordingly. the back-ups to last years fab-4 should do just fine, and I think this year UH may just have a 1,000 yard back this year in Leon-Wright Jackson, a former High School All-American, and once Cornhusker who transferred a year ago. The only weak point for the offense is the quarterback because Funaki and Graunke need to work on the new system as it is something they are not familar with, or haven't done it since high school.
I can't wait to watch UH Football as I will return home from school in Florida in September as it will remind me of my days at Saint Louis as the same offense will be run under Ron Lee, and the Defense will be tough with Coach Cal being Def. Coordinator. Forget JJ as he is a thing of the past who said he loved Hawaii and it's fan, but leaves with some unfinished work to be done, Go Coach McMackin and a new era for Hawaii Football, Hard-nose, Smash-mouth football, just like my high school days and the days of wagner and tomey.

Flying_Hawaiian | 04/16/08, 04:52 PM

I can't wait for UH's season to start against Florida in Gainsville, I'll be up there for that game and it will be pretty exciting. I'm a Saint Louis Alumnus and know all about Coach Cal's and Ron's coaching style, having played under Coach Cal. The offense is going to be better with the quarterbacks taking snaps from under center and not the shotgun, that's where JJ went wrong, only taking snaps from shotgun, now teams will have to worry about the run and the pass and they won't know which way the run is going, as in the shotgun they knew 90% of the time where the run was going if there ever was going to be one.
They defense is in very good shape as they have three of the best linebackers in the WAC maybe even in the country coming back, in Soares, Leonard, and Eliminian. The D-Line looks to be in good shape only losing Lafaele but have Watson & Laeli in the middle and Veikune, and Fonoti on the outside. the only weakpoint I think the defense has is the cornerback position as they lost their two starting corners, but the position battle is looking really good and I'm looking forward to that.
I think the offense will do fine, this redefined spread offense still uses a four wide receiver set yet the receivers read the defenses coverage and adjust their routes accordingly. the back-ups to last years fab-4 should do just fine, and I think this year UH may just have a 1,000 yard back this year in Leon-Wright Jackson, a former High School All-American, and once Cornhusker who transferred a year ago. The only weak point for the offense is the quarterback because Funaki and Graunke need to work on the new system as it is something they are not familar with, or haven't done it since high school.
I can't wait to watch UH Football as I will return home from school in Florida in September as it will remind me of my days at Saint Louis as the same offense will be run under Ron Lee, and the Defense will be tough with Coach Cal being Def. Coordinator. Forget JJ as he is a thing of the past who said he loved Hawaii and it's fan, but leaves with some unfinished work to be done, Go Coach McMackin and a new era for Hawaii Football, Hard-nose, Smash-mouth football, just like my high school days and the days of wagner and tomey. If you would like to know where I got my info, I have many friends on the UH Football team in Aaron Bain, aka "Yoda", Keao Monteilh aka Ao Boy", Blaze Soares, a beast of a man, Fale Laeli, Barry Batts, and Victor Clore. They've told me some great things for this upcoming season and look forward to it. watch out for Laeli, Monteilh, Bain, and Soares as they shall make this season another one to remember, and build upon last seasons success. GO Warriors!!! Cheeehoooo!!!

Flying_Hawaiian | 04/16/08, 04:54 PM