June Jones, Trailblazing Football Coach, Dies at 73

WHO:

Aloha State Daily - Former Hawai‘i player and coach Rich Miano said Jones’s appointment was initially viewed as “a little bit eccentric, a little bit crazy”; Miano said Jones had been a father figure and mentor to him for 43 years.

Aloha State Daily - Hawai‘i head coach Timmy Chang said Jones gave him his start in collegiate coaching as a graduate assistant at SMU in 2012.

Aloha State Daily - Five of Jones’s former Hawai‘i players are on the current team’s coaching staff.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Artie Wilson, Jones’s friend for more than six decades, said, “This isn’t my loss. This is Hawaii’s loss.”

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Former UH player Davone Bess said Jones took a chance on him when he had no other options and was a mentor and father figure; Bess said, “I’m forever grateful.”

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones’s teams also developed quarterbacks Timmy Chang and Nick Rolovich, and Jones gave opportunities to recruits with legal problems, including Colt Brennan, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa and slotback Davone Bess.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones was inducted into the Hawaii Circle of Honor in 2024.

NBC Sports - Jones signed with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent and spent five seasons there, mostly as a backup.

NBC Sports - Jerry Glanville hired Jones as the Houston Oilers’ quarterbacks coach.

NBC Sports - Jones was hired as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach.

Dallas News - SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said Jones gave much to football and the young men he coached, began SMU’s resurgence in winning, and left his mark on the Mustang family.

Hawaii News Now - University of Hawaii head football coach Timmy Chang said Jones believed in him and his teammates and helped them believe they could be heroic.

Hawaii News Now - Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said Jones’s impact on Hawaii was “more than significant” and that he “really loved Hawai’i.”

Hawaii News Now - Jones’s teams produced quarterback Colt Brennan, a Heisman Trophy finalist.

NBC Sports - Jones played quarterback for Portland State under head coach Mouse Davis.

NBC Sports - Jones coached Warren Moon, a future Hall of Famer, with the Houston Oilers.

NBC Sports - Jones and offensive coordinator Mouse Davis worked with Barry Sanders in Detroit.

NY Post - June Jones was a longtime football coach.

Daily Mail NFL - June Jones was a former NFL and college football coach.

Newsweek - Jones served as an assistant coach and head coach in college football and the NFL.

Daily Mail NFL - The Atlanta Falcons paid tribute to Jones, describing him as a “visionary.”

WHAT:

Aloha State Daily - Jones turned down a permanent head-coaching role with the San Diego Chargers to take Hawai‘i’s job for $250,000 a year, sacrificing millions, according to the article.

Aloha State Daily - Jones’s Hawai‘i rebrand helped inspire the athletics department’s green “H” and tapa-trim logo, as well as the concept of all-black uniforms.

Aloha State Daily - Jones turned down a two-year offer to return as Hawai‘i head coach when the job opened in 2022.

Aloha State Daily - Jones went 19-29 as Atlanta Falcons head coach and 5-0 as Houston Roughnecks head coach before the XFL season was cut short.

Aloha State Daily - Jones’s 1999 Hawai‘i team beat Oregon State 23-17 in the O‘ahu Bowl.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones declined an opportunity to become San Diego Chargers head coach to take Hawaii’s head coaching job.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones accepted a five-year contract to coach SMU a week after the Sugar Bowl; Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier was fired the next day.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones coached future Hall of Fame members Jim Kelly, Warren Moon and Barry Sanders.

NBC Sports - Jones began coaching at Hawaii in 1983 and spent two years in the USFL and CFL before joining the Oilers.

NBC Sports - Jones and Mouse Davis helped demonstrate that a great running back could fit within the run-and-shoot offense, despite criticism in Detroit that the scheme did not make enough use of Barry Sanders.

Fox News - Jones helped lead Hawaii to its first-ever BCS bowl appearance.

Dallas News - June Jones posted a 36-43 record during his tenure at SMU.

Dallas News - SMU reached four consecutive bowl games from 2009-12 and moved from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference in 2013.

Dallas News - Jones resigned after SMU began the 2014 season 0-2; SMU finished the season 1-11 and hired Chad Morris as head coach.

Dallas News - SMU said Jones helped restore a winning tradition, taking the Mustangs to their first bowl appearance in 25 years and four consecutive bowl games.

Dallas News - Jones was credited with reviving SMU after the NCAA’s 1987 death penalty; the program had only one winning season in the following 20 years.

Dallas News - Jones’s first SMU season ended 1-11, before the team recorded four straight winning seasons from 2009-12.

Hawaii News Now - Jones won 76 games in nine seasons at Hawaii, led the team to six bowl games and coached three seasons with at least 10 wins.

Hawaii News Now - Hawaii shared the Western Athletic Conference title in 1999 and won WAC titles in 1999 and 2007.

Hawaii News Now - Jones received National Coach of the Year honors for Hawaii’s 1999 season.

NBC Sports - Jones won several national coach of the year awards after Hawaii’s 9-4 season.

Hawaii News Now - Jones coached five All-Americans, 52 all-conference performers and 16 NFL Draft picks.

Hawaii News Now - Jones resigned from SMU in 2014 and agreed to become Kapolei High School’s offensive coordinator in 2016.

Hawaii News Now - Jones was most recently the Seattle Sea Dragons’ offensive coordinator.

NBC Sports - Jones’s pass-first concepts are now used by coaches across football, from high schools to the NFL.

NBC Sports - Portland State posted unusually high passing numbers with Jones running Davis’s offense.

NBC Sports - Jones’s run-and-shoot scheme used one running back and four wide receivers.

NBC Sports - Jones was promoted from Falcons offensive coordinator to head coach after three years.

NBC Sports - The Falcons reached the playoffs in 1995, then finished 3-13 in 1996; Jones was fired.

NBC Sports - Jones was the Chargers’ interim head coach for the final 10 games of a season after Kevin Gilbride was fired.

NBC Sports - Hawaii improved from 0-12 the prior season to 9-4 in Jones’s first season, then went 12-0 in 2007 before losing the Sugar Bowl. Jones spent nine seasons there and became the program’s all-time winningest coach.

NBC Sports - Jones later coached for two years in the CFL and one year in the XFL.

NY Post - June Jones died at age 73.

Daily Mail NFL - June Jones died at age 73.

Newsweek - June Jones, a former Hawaii and SMU head coach, died at age 73.

Daily Mail NFL - Jones helped pioneer the run-and-shoot offense.

WHERE:

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones died in Oregon.

Dallas News - SMU’s first bowl appearance under Jones was the 2009 Hawai’i Bowl.

Hawaii News Now - Jones played for the Oregon Ducks and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

Hawaii News Now - Jones began his coaching career as a Hawaii graduate assistant.

NBC Sports - Jones was born and raised in Portland and played at Portland State in 1975 and 1976.

NBC Sports - Jones coached with the Houston Oilers and Detroit Lions, and served as Chargers quarterbacks coach.

Newsweek - Jones coached at Hawaii and SMU.

Daily Mail NFL - Jones was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

WHEN:

NBC Sports - Jones played for the Falcons from 1977-81 and became the team’s head coach in 1994.

Dallas News - Jones last served as Seattle Sea Dragons offensive coordinator in 2023.

Hawaii News Now - Jones played quarterback for Hawaii from 1973-74.

Hawaii News Now - Jones coached at SMU from 2008 until resigning in 2014.

Hawaii News Now - Jones coached Hawaii from 1999-2007.

Daily Mail NFL - Jones had been in hospice care for the last two weeks.

NY Post - The article says Jones died “on Thursday.”

WHY:

Aloha State Daily - Jones died after a battle with Stage 4 cancer.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Jones had type 1 diabetes and spinal problems; close family friends said he entered hospice two weeks before his death.

Heavy NFL - Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported that Jones had been suffering from severe back pain.

NBC Sports - Jones became convinced during his NFL playing career that the run-and-shoot could succeed at the highest level.

No source provided a cause of death.

HOW:

Aloha State Daily - Jones’s former quarterback Timmy Chang set the NCAA passing-yardage record at 17,072 under Jones’s tutelage.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Sportscaster Jim Donovan said his best moment was standing with 30,000 people and singing “Hawaii Pono‘i” before the Sugar Bowl kickoff.

NBC Sports - Jones’s Hawaii team’s 9-4 record in his first season was then the biggest single-season improvement by any college football team.

Daily Mail NFL - Jones was in hospice care for the last two weeks before his death.

June Jones, the pioneering football coach behind Hawaii’s rise, has died at 73. He led Hawaii to six bowl games, including its first major national bowl appearance. Players and colleagues remembered Jones as a mentor whose influence shaped generations.