Skip to main content

Money Does Not Equal Hawaiian Happiness

June Jones took over the Hawaiian Football program in 1999. In 9 years with the program he coached the Rainbow Warriors (he axed the Rainbow) to their best success in their history. He went 75-41, had only two losing seasons, won the WAC twice and won 4 bowl games. He was easily becoming a Hawaiian legend despite also garnering the highest public salary in the state. On January 1st his undefeated Warriors met up with Georgia, the hottest team in the nation, in the Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately for June the perfect Hawaiian season was brutally beaten into the ground with every thud of Colt Brennan's helmet to the turf.

On January 7th June Jones was introduced as the next coach of Southern Methodist University. He had left the islands for the money (and to abandon a potential sinking ship now sans Colt Brennan). This job provided one major perk, 2 million dollars annually. SMU was once a proud football program, but not during my lifetime. In fact the last time they made a bowl was 1984. Essentially money talked for June Jones over Sunshine and leis.

Fast forward to this past Saturday afternoon and I wonder what June Jones is thinking about his January decision now. On Saturday SMU fell to 1-8, but that far from tells the whole story. In their 34-7 defeat against Navy, the Midshipmen did exactly the opposite of a June Jones called game. They ran the ball, and ran the ball, and ran it some more. In fact they not once put the ball in the air (the 1st time since 1997), instead their 3rd string quarterback buried his head through the piles for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns on 42 carries.

So June, how does that Hawaiian Sunshine Sound Now?
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
June left for two reasons:

Money (of course).

Better facilities. Hawaii refused to pony up the funds to have even respectable, much less attractive athletic facilities.
4:30 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

M E T S = Mercifully End The Season

Do it before David Wright gets Hurt!
185 comments
Continue Reading the Rest of This Fine Post

Numbers On Steroids: Bret Boone

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. Mr. Boone was once the best power hitting second baseman in the league. How questionable was his success? Averages Say: Why the extra plateu in his mid 30s? At Bats Per Home Run Says: Lowest at Bats Per Home Runs at 37? Hmm.... Explaining It Away Yeak, this one is tough. Umm, late bloomer? He showed potential power early in his career and he just liked playing in Seattle a lot more than everywhere else? And umm, his career was kind of like a running backs in that it just all of a sudden fell off the map? Any of these convincing you? The Verdict Guy never hits more than 24 home runs in a season and then in his age 32 season he hits 37? And in SafeCo a pitchers park to boot? And he follows that up with 24, 35, 24 homer years still at SafeCo? And then he completely falls off the map in 2005 never to be heard from again? We've got a Screamer... Man Get Big Muscles In 30s. Hm...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading the Rest of This Fine Post

Numbers On Steroids: Mickey Mantle

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. This week it's throwing a curve ball and looking at All Time Great Yankees. Players that we know did not take steroids to see if this gives a defense to any of the players 'convicted' by Numbers on Steroids. Time to look at my dad's favorite athlete of all time, Mickey Mantle. Averages Say: What's with the mysterious dip at 27 and then the uptick? At Bats Per Home Run Says: That's a mighty jump from 22 to 24 Explaining As If It Was the 90s If you take a look at the numbers there are two time frames which in the 1990s would be questioned. First would be the incredible leap he took from his first year in the big leagues to his first MVP season in 1956. His batting average jumped 50 points. His slugging percentage jumped 90 points and he hit 15 more homers than his previous high. This wouldn't merrit a conviction nowadays though because the young age he...
2 comments
Continue Reading the Rest of This Fine Post