June Jones
Encyclopedia
June Sheldon Jones, III (born February 19, 1953) is the American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 for Southern Methodist University
SMU Mustangs football
The SMU Mustangs football program is a college football team that represents Southern Methodist University . The team competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member Conference USA...

.

Playing career

Jones played the quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 position on three college teams: Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

 (1971–1972), Hawaii (1973–1974), and Portland State
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...

 (1975–1976). It is during his time at Portland State that he was introduced to the Run and Shoot
Offensive philosophy (American football)
The approach to offense in American and Canadian football has splintered and evolved in the 100 years in which the modern form of the sport has existed. Many philosophies exist about deploying a team's 11 players.-Smash Mouth:...

 offense by Mouse Davis
Mouse Davis
Darrel "Mouse" Davis is an American football coach and former player. A veteran coach at the high school, college, and professional levels, he is currently the wide receivers coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Davis served as the head football coach at Portland State University from...

. It would be an offense that he would later champion throughout his coaching career. Thereafter, he entered professional football, playing for the Atlanta Falcons (1977–1981) of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 and the Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...

 of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

 (1982). In four seasons with the Falcons, Jones completed 75 of 166 passes for 923 yards with three touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s and seven interceptions.

Early career

In 1983, Jones started his coaching career as a graduate assistant
Teaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...

 under Dick Tomey
Dick Tomey
-External links:* *...

 at the University of Hawaii. He then spent two years in the USFL, first as the wide receivers coach for the Houston Gamblers
Houston Gamblers
The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons...

 (1984), then as the offensive coordinator for the Denver Gold
Denver Gold
The Denver Gold was a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second major professional football league in the United States, playing a springtime season, from 1983 to 1985...

 (1985). Following the demise of the USFL, Jones spent the 1986 season working as an offensive assistant for the Ottawa Rough Riders
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...

 of the CFL. In 1987, he got his first NFL coaching position serving as the quarterbacks coach on Jerry Glanville
Jerry Glanville
Jerry Glanville is a former American football player and current head coach of the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League, former NASCAR driver and owner, and sportscaster in the United States. He served the head coach of the Houston Oilers from 1986 to 1990 and the Atlanta Falcons from...

's staff with the Houston Oilers. After Glanville was released by the Oilers, he would join the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

 coaching staff upon the recommendation of Mouse Davis, his college head coach at Portland State who was serving as the team's offensive coordinator.

Atlanta Falcons

Jones reunited with Glanville upon joining the Atlanta Falcons organization in 1991
1991 NFL season
The 1991 NFL season was the 72nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XXVI when the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills....

 as its assistant head coach. In 1994
1994 NFL season
The 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season...

, Jones replaced Glanville as the team's head coach, a move that caused a rift between the two. Reportedly, they did not speak to each other for several years thereafter. (Later, in the 2000s, Jones would hire Glanville as defensive coordinator at Hawaii). As head coach, Jones installed the Run & Shoot offense he learned under Mouse Davis. Initially, quarterback Jeff George
Jeff George
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" George is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the first overall pick of the 1990 NFL Draft...

 flourished under the system, passing for 3,734 yards and 23 touchdowns in Jones's first year and 4143 yards and 24 touchdowns his second year. In 1995
1995 NFL season
The 1995 NFL season was the 76th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 30 teams with the addition of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars...

, Jones's second season as head coach, the Falcons went to the playoffs, losing in the first round to the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

. The following year, the Falcons posted a 3–13 record, leading to Jones's dismissal. Jones's coaching record over three seasons in Atlanta was nineteen wins and twenty-nine losses. He also clashed with quarterback Jeff George
Jeff George
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" George is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the first overall pick of the 1990 NFL Draft...

 during his final season, including a well publicized and widely broadcast profanity laced shouting match during a September 23 game against the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

. The feud contributed to both men's release by the organization.

San Diego Chargers (Head Coach)

Jones returned to coaching when the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 hired him as quarterbacks coach on January 20, 1998. On October 13, 1998, head coach Kevin Gilbride
Kevin Gilbride
Kevin Gilbride is an American football coach. Gilbride served as the San Diego Chargers head coach from 1997-1998. He went to Southern Connecticut State University, where he played both quarterback and tight end. He would later coach at his alma mater for five seasons starting in 1980 and compiled...

 was fired after the sixth game and Jones became the interim head coach. The Chargers won three of ten games coached by Jones, giving him a career NFL coaching record of 22 wins and 36 losses.

Hawaii

Jones joined the University of Hawaii-Mānoa football team as head coach, replacing Fred von Appen
Fred von Appen
Fred von Appen is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1996 to 1998, compiling a record of 5–31...

, who was fired when the team lost 18 games in a row, including all twelve games in the 1998 season. Jones led the Warriors to a 9-4 record and a share of the Western Athletic Conference
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...

 football championship in the 1999 season, making it the most dramatic turnaround in NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 football history. With Jones's success on the field, and media-friendly persona off the field, he instantly became one of the most famous people in Hawaii, with some people making "June Jones for Governor" T-shirts. Reflecting his offensive philosophy, bumper stickers sporting the slogan "June would throw" appeared. These reference legendary Hawaiian lifeguard Eddie Aikau
Eddie Aikau
Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau was a well-known Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer. The words Makua Hanai in Eddie Aikaus full name means feeding parent, an adoptive, nurturing, fostering parent, in the Hawaiian language...

, of whom it is said, "Eddie would go" (into big surf).

During his tenure at Hawaii, he coached five All-Americans, 52 all-conference performers, and eight NFL draft picks. In particular, Jones claims to have made a special effort to recruit local talent in his players and coaching staff. One of the most notable of his recruits was quarterback Timmy Chang
Timmy Chang
Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang is a retired American football player. He was signed by the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2005...

, who became the all-time NCAA leader in passing yardage.

Jones nearly died in a car accident on February 22, 2001, missing the spring season because of his injuries.

On December 24, 2006, Jones passed Dick Tomey
Dick Tomey
-External links:* *...

 to become the winningest head coach in Hawaii football history (against an all-college schedule) with a 41–24 victory over Arizona State in the 2006 Hawaii Bowl.

Frustrated with what he viewed as a lack of support from the University, Jones opted to leave Hawaii at the end of the 2007 season. After initial reports had him interviewing at SMU, Hawaii officials had offers to raise his salary from $800,000 a year to $1.7 million a year and offered a commitment to improve its facilities; in addition there was an outpouring of support from Hawaii fans, including Gov. Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle
Linda Lingle was the sixth Governor of Hawaii. Lingle holds a number of distinctions: first Republican elected governor of Hawaii since the departure of William F...

. However, Jones contacted Hawaii on January 7, 2008 and let them know he had decided to accept an offer from SMU. Jones said the work that needed to be done to improve the football facilities and the campus in general would never get done with him still there. He said after all of the broken promises, leaving was the only way to send a message. Jones went 76–41 at Hawaii, including 4–2 in bowls. His teams finished first in the WAC twice and second two other times.

Southern Methodist University

In a press conference at the Hall of Champions adjacent to Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, one of the two "Park Cities" that form an enclave within the city limits of Dallas. The stadium is used primarily for football, and it is home to the Southern Methodist University Mustangs and is frequently used for local high school...

 on January 7, 2008, June Jones was introduced as new head football coach of the Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...

. He was the school's 5th coach since the “death penalty” in 1987. Jones signed a five-year contract with SMU, paying him two million dollars annually and making him the highest-paid coach in Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

. He guided the SMU Mustangs to a 1-11 record in 2008.

On November 28, 2009, Jones coached SMU to a win over Tulane University, ending the season with a 7-5 regular season record, the most SMU victories in a season since the 1980s. The 2009 season included a win over the defending and eventual 2009 C-USA champion East Carolina. The 2009 season also saw Jones utilize the ground game more than in recent seasons. Jones has led SMU to its third bowl-eligible season (6-5 in 1997, 6-6 in 2006), and to its first bowl game (Hawai'i Bowl
2009 Hawai'i Bowl
The 2009 Hawaii Bowl was the eighth edition of the college football bowl game, played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The game started at 3:00 pm local time on Thursday, December 24, 2009, with the SMU Mustangs of Conference USA beating the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Western Athletic...

) since the 1984 Aloha Bowl and the NCAA-imposed death penalty. SMU defeated Nevada 45-10 to finish the season 8-5. Just like in 1999, a June Jones coached team had the most improved record in Division I football.

In 2010, Jones coached the Mustangs to a .500 season. The Mustangs went 7-7 overall with a conference record of 6-2, helping them clinch the C-USA Western title. The team beat the previous year's C-USA champion East Carolina in overtime in the final regular season game but lost the C-USA championship game in Orlando to the University of Central Florida the next week. Jones and the Mustangs went to their second consecutive bowl game, The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
Armed Forces Bowl
The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl is an annual postseason college football bowl game that was inaugurated in 2003 as the Fort Worth Bowl under corporate sponsorship of PlainsCapital Bank. In 2005, the game was without corporate sponsorship...

, losing to the Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

 Black Knights 16-14. The game was played at SMU's Ford Stadium due to the normal venue, TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium, undergoing renovation.

Coaching style

Jones' offenses rarely run the ball, favoring a wide-open, pass-heavy offense, the Run & Shoot approach. Although, in 2010, Sophomore tailback Zach Line rushed for over 1450 yards in 14 games, making him the 11th best rusher in the FBS. It gave the offense another facet long lost in Jones' offenses.

Criticism

Jones's time in Hawaii was not without controversy. He set new precedents as head coach, and some faulted him for discarding long-standing traditions. After his first season, he made several changes to the identity of the football team, including changing the name of the football team from “Rainbow Warriors” to simply “Warriors.”

During the 2004 season, after negotiating a contract with a $800,016 annual salary making him the highest-paid public employee in the state, he faced discontent from fans, faculty, and news reporters about his struggling team. The team finished with a 7–5 regular season record and an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl
2004 Hawaii Bowl
The 2004 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, part of the 2004 bowl game season, took place on December 24, 2004, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The competing teams were the UAB Blazers, representing Conference USA and the Hawaii Warriors, representing the Western Athletic Conference...

.

On October 4, 2011, Gary Patterson
Gary Patterson
Gary Patterson is the head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs college football team. He grew up in Rozel, Kansas and played football at Dodge City Community College and Kansas State University. Patterson is married to Kelsey Patterson . He has three sons: Josh, Cade and Blake...

, the head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs
TCU Horned Frogs football
The TCU Horned Frogs football team is the intercollegiate football team of Texas Christian University. TCU competes as a member of the Mountain West Conference in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, but will move to the Big 12 Conference for the 2012 season. TCU began playing football...

 called June Jones out during a morning press conference. Patterson stated that the referees had poorly called the recent 40-33 overtime loss to SMU and that Jones was also disrespectful towards Patterson and TCU as a university.

College

NFL

Team |Regular Season ATL
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

1994
1994 NFL season
The 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season...

7 9 0 .438 3rd in NFC West
NFC West
The NFC West is a division of the National Football League's National Football Conference. It currently has four members: Arizona Cardinals, St...

- - - -
ATL
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

1995
1995 NFL season
The 1995 NFL season was the 76th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 30 teams with the addition of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars...

9 7 0 .563 2nd in NFC West 0 1 .000 Lost to Green Bay
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

 in Wild Card Round
NFL playoffs, 1995-96
The NFL playoffs following the 1995 NFL season led up to Super Bowl XXX.-Bracket:-AFC: Buffalo Bills 37, Miami Dolphins 22:Although Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino completed 33 out of 64 passes for 422 yards, the Bills jumped to a 27-0 lead going into the fourth quarter, and rushed for an NFL...

.
ATL
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

1996
1996 NFL season
The 1996 NFL season was the 77th regular season of the National Football League and the season was marked by notable controversies from beginning to end...

3 13 0 .188 4th in NFC West - - - -
Atlanta Total 19 29 0 .396 0 1 .000
SD
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

1998
1998 NFL season
The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.The Tennessee Oilers moved their home games from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still awaiting construction on a new stadium in Nashville.This was the first season that CBS...

3 7 0 .300 5th in AFC West
AFC West
The AFC West is a division of the National Football League's American Football Conference, currently comprising the Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Oakland Raiders.-History:...

- - - -
San Diego Total 3 7 0 .300 0 0 .000
Total 22 36 0 .348 0 1 .000

† Became interim head coach when Kevin Gilbride
Kevin Gilbride
Kevin Gilbride is an American football coach. Gilbride served as the San Diego Chargers head coach from 1997-1998. He went to Southern Connecticut State University, where he played both quarterback and tight end. He would later coach at his alma mater for five seasons starting in 1980 and compiled...

 was fired after the sixth game of the season

External links

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