A look at June Jones' record

by gilbert on Dec 14, 2007 10:29 AM PST Comment 11 comments

I had never considered June Jones coming to UCLA as a realistic possibility until today because I thought I had heard that he really liked it in Hawaii and would only maybe leave for the NFL.

But with Dohn's report (in which the part about DeWayne Walker needing to be retained better not be true), I decided to take a look at Jones' record.

His nine seasons at Hawaii, 1999-2007:
9-4
3-9
9-3
10-4
9-5
8-5
5-7
11-3
12-0
TOTAL: 74-40

That's much more impressive when you look at how how bad Hawaii was before Jones was hired:

'94: 3-8-1
'95: 4-8
'96: 2-10
'97: 3-9
'98: 0-12
TOTAL: 12-47-1

Yes, in Jones' first year, Hawaii went 9-4 after being 0-12 the year before. That's ridiculous.

Jones has completely turn around the Hawaii program, which, despite the weather, has to be really hard to recruit at. Hawaii is not in a BCS conference, they're really far from the mainland, and their facilities are horrible.

Among the top complaints about Jones is his team's defense. Well if you look at the NCAA's 2007 defense stats:

Hawaii 348.9 yds/game
UCLA 349.8 yds/game

Yes, that's better than DeWayne Walker's legendary defense. Plus, Jones has NFL head coaching experience, which recruits might like more than DeWayne Walker's NFL assistant experience.

If there's any chance we can get June Jones, we have to do it.

To me, he's the best candidate left on the board among those who have been rumored as possibilities. Even if you don't agree with me about June Jones being the best guy out there, we should all agree that Jones would be a much better hire than DeWayne Walker -- and there's no way in hell we should lose someone with a great head coaching record to keep Walker.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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I remember those days

Fred VonAppen was like Lavin and Dorrell combined when it came to coaching "abilities". Jones came in and brought with him the biggest single season turnaround in NCAA Football. Since then, Jones could do no wrong, even during those two losing seasons. There was always hope. Something we're not familiar with over the past 5 years.

UH's defense is much improved and is actually the reason why they won the UW game and are in the Sugar Bowl right now after the worst 1st quarter of offensive football I've ever seen, Dorrell's offense included.

Good writeup. I think hiring Jones would earn us the hatred of an entire state, but we'd live. They hate us anyway because we destroy them in Volleyball, which is also big over there.

by Tydides on Dec 14, 2007 10:37 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

gilbert.... bringing the research...

Well done, gil.

"Because I'm tired of it. Year after year after year after year having to choose between the lesser of 'Who cares?'"

by Meriones on Dec 14, 2007 10:38 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I've been a Hawaii fan since 2000

June recruited well from Corona Centennial (my alma mater) and I knew some of the kids who went out there to play. So I started following the program back then. They have always been exciting to watch with Timmy Chang, Rolovich, and now Brennan at the qb position. Even when the #1 qb goes down, the backup is ALWAYS able to step in and still throw for 350-400 yards NO PROBLEM.

His problem though, in my opinion, stems from the general laid back attitude in Hawaii. He admittedly has some unique recruiting techniques that get him the best talent available. See: Recruiting military kids, kids out of jails, etc. And what happens is that these kids sometimes get sidetracked and will just not show up for the games that they should win. This has happened throughout his tenure, and even thrice this year (SJSU, LA Tech, Washington), but this year Brennan managed to pull those games out at the end.

And of course, when they actually do show up, they are near unbeatable. Anyone remember the BYU game in 2001 when BYU was 12-0 and poised to break into the BCS and then Hawaii put up 72 on them?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores101/101342/101342447.htm

So yea, like we've come to expect at UCLA, June Jones' teams do indeed suffer from inconsistency. I would compare him closest to Toledo. He'll probably manage to create excitement and build up a solid team that can compete for a NC, but may cut some corners in the process.

At this point, I'm totally down for that!

by TheTJCummingsEra on Dec 14, 2007 11:08 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Jones versus Walker

Jones: 74-40 in nine years as head coach at a D1 school.

Walker: 0-0 with no experieince as a head coach anywhere.

Please tell my why there is even the slightest controversy?

Also, thanks for bringing in the realative rankings of the Walker coached UCLA defense versus Hawaii's. While we can all argue about the Bruins and the Rainbows facing different teams, information like this should help to quell the ground swell of the Walker campaign.

by Bruin77 on Dec 14, 2007 11:24 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

NO

We seriously need to LIGHT UP this and the WARRIOR BOARDS with the message: WE NEED this guy right now. Walker, if you can't work with JJ (damn.. DyNoMite and JJ -- holy shit), then I'm thinkin' we might just have to do with out you.

And, DO we have something against the WAC? Why ain't we talkin to Pat Hill -- too expen$ive?

How well do you think Ol' Handlebars would fare in Bel Aire?

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Dec 14, 2007 2:50 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Logan

Go look up Hill's numbers. (I posted these recently but I can't remember where.) He looks pretty much like CTS. One good year when he had Carr, and the rest basically nothing better than CTS. You won't have a lot of enthusiasm for him when you look at those numbers, believe me.

by Fox 71 on Dec 14, 2007 7:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

6-8 vs BCS schools

Is my favorite stat of his.... which sounds nothing at all like CTS to me, esp. when you adjust for budget, exposure and talent level.

Hill has eked out QUITE a living and Fresno State is a prime example of a smaller State school growing Big and Strong in the draft of a football program. I liken Hill to a crow, foraging on PAC-10 scraps and eventually threatening the Eagle's territory.

It's his attitude I love. Can't help but wonder what a guy like him does with more resources.

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Dec 17, 2007 10:51 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

But he wasn't particularly good in his

own conference. And what exactly is "6-8 against BCS schools"? Do you mean the schools that played in BCS games or schools from the conferences? And do you mean 6 wins out of 8 games or 6 wins, 8 losses?

I'm not busting your chops, here. For all either of us know, DG could be talking to him right now.

I am not particularly impressed by a 6-2 mark against certain BCS schools. Beating ND isn't that hard (except for us.)

Anyway, it's all probably irrelevant anyway.

by Fox 71 on Dec 17, 2007 4:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

probably, BUT it's still fun...

B.C.S. as in Cal, at Colorado, at Wisconsin, Oregon State, Georgia Tech (bowl), UCLA (bowl), at Washington, at Kansas State and Virginia (bowl) since 2000.

Conference record shows Hill at 39-17 since 2000 and 46-11 at home since '98.

Hill's came one out-route from upsetting SC in '05. '06 was a shitty year, but the 'Dogs still pulled twice (6) the amount national television time than we did.

Academics? Sick. 950 NCAA rating (we're 930-ish).

He won't come though. He owns the central valley.

GO BRUIN BLUE.

by theREAL_LOGAN5 on Dec 17, 2007 10:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry, but no.

I'll take June Jones if nobody is left, but his teams have destroyed hotel rooms and airplanes in the past. Let SC recruit the thugs, but I don't care for it.

Since Paul Johnson is out of the equation, I am pulling for the Mike Leach connection. failing that, Bronco Mendenhall.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Dec 14, 2007 8:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I can' find any evidence of this

Mexi, I've been Googling like crazy the last few minutes and can't find any evidence of June Jones' teams destroying hotel rooms and airplanes.

Can you point me to a link?

Even if Jones' players have done that in the past, remember, he's in Hawaii -- for him to get good players, they can't be the same ones desired by the BCS schools because Hawaii will lose that recruiting battle almost every time. At UCLA, Jones wouldn't have to go after those players.

I would be a lot more concerned with NCAA violations than recruiting players with checkered pasts, and I can't find any evidence of NCAA violations either.

by gilbert on Dec 14, 2007 9:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs