June Jones, Hawaii and SMU coach, dies at 73

The news hit Thursday afternoon, and the run-and-shoot crowd immediately started paying respects to one of the sport's great offensive minds.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

Former Hawaii & SMU coach June Jones passed away at 73. Jones was 112-84 in 16 seasons w/Rainbow Warriors & Mustangs. He also was an NFL head coach for 4 seasons. RIP 🙏🏻

Jones died in Oregon, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which reported that he had dealt with health issues this year and entered hospice 2 weeks ago, per a close family friend. That record of 112-84 across Hawaii and SMU doesn't come close to telling the story, though. The real story is where he started in Honolulu.

Jones took over a Hawaii program that went 0-12 in 1998. In year 1 he went 9-4 and tied for first in the WAC, a flip the Star-Advertiser notes was called the greatest turnaround in college football history at the time, and it won him National Coach of the Year honors. Over 9 seasons from 1999 to 2007 he won 76 games, made 6 bowl games, had 3 seasons of 10 or more wins and took 2 WAC titles. Hawaii put him in its Circle of Honor in 2024.

The peak was 2007. Colt Brennan was slinging it all over the yard, Hawaii went 12-0 in the regular season, won the WAC and crashed the BCS for a Sugar Bowl date with Georgia. Georgia won that one, but nobody who watched those Warriors forgot them. Jones also coached Timmy Chang before Brennan, and Brennan became a Heisman finalist in that offense, the run-and-shoot that traces back to Mouse Davis at Portland State.

After a contract dispute, Jones left Hawaii for SMU and coached the Mustangs from 2008 to 2014. The tributes rolling in say as much about the guy as the scheme did.

Billy Embody

@BillyEmbody

Rest in peace, Coach June Jones. Appreciate all he did for me, giving me an opportunity and just being a great person to be around. Lucky to have known him. He’d do anything for his players. This one hurts.

That's the theme in pretty much every reaction so far: he'd do anything for his players. And his football life went well beyond college. Jones went undrafted, played quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons from 1977 to 1981, coached quarterbacks for the Oilers, Lions and Falcons, ran the Falcons offense from 1991 to 1993 and was their head coach from 1994 to 1996. He also had a stint as the Chargers interim head coach in 1998.

Every 4-wide, throw-it-50-times offense you see on a Saturday owes something to guys like June Jones. He made Hawaii football matter on a national stage, which nobody thought could happen, and he did it with a system the rest of the sport later caught up to. RIP, Coach.