Paradise lost: Jones' exit devastating for Hawaii
Posted: Saturday, January 05, 2008 11:41 PM
I grew up on University of Hawaii football. Names such as Falaniko Noga, Gary Allen, David Toloumu, Nuu Faaola, Raphel Cherry and Walter Murray are completely foreign to most, but they mean a lot to me. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve watching them play on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
In 1981, when Hawaii went 9-2, I got hooked on college football. Coach Dick Tomey had established a solid program that consistently flirted with the idea of making it big someday. There was no harming in dreaming.
It took more than two decades, but those dreams finally materialized in 2007 with an undefeated regular season and trip to the Sugar Bowl.
The primary architect was June Jones. He rescued UH nine years ago. The program had hit rock bottom with a 0-12 season in 1998, under the watch of head coach Fred vonAppen, who became known as “Fred whatHappened?”
Now, we’re left to ask that question again. What Happened?
Jones is out. He resigned on Saturday, citing 19 things that needed to be addressed with regard to his staff and the program. Sadly, they were all rejected. (UPDATE: After a last-minute push from Hawaii, including tons of e-mail from fans, gave Jones second thoughts, he opted for the money and challenge of SMU officially Monday.)
I covered Jones’ first game as Hawaii coach in 1999. It was an ugly 62-7 loss to USC at Aloha Stadium. As someone who has a USC degree hanging on the wall, I welcomed the result (remember, this was during the Paul Hackett era and Trojan victories were hard to come by), but my heart ached for my hometown team, which had just absorbed its 19th consecutive loss.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Jones to turn things around. That season ended at 9-4. He took UH from zero to nine victories in a single year, something that had never happened before in college football history.
Fast forward to what was Jones’ last game, Tuesday’s 41-10 loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. I covered that one as well, and was joined in New Orleans by 15,000 supporters from the islands.
As expected, they were all in the highest of spirits. Georgia fans were amazed by their numbers and good-natured demeanors. Merchants in the French Quarter were overjoyed with their desire to spend. It was a lovefest, easily the best bowl experience I’ve ever encountered.
The actual game was a complete disaster for the Warriors, but the uncommon family bond that exists between the team and its fans was so refreshing. It’s called “ohana” and it manifested itself in the final minute of the game as Hawaii’s white-clad supporters rose in unison to unabashedly applaud their team.
Then, a few minutes after the final gun mercifully ended the carnage, the Warriors gathered along their sideline and sang a rousing rendition of “Hawai’i Pono’i” with their fans. Please keep in mind that singing the state song and former national anthem of Hawaii is not a postgame tradition. It was just something that needed to happen.
It was one of those truly special moments in sports that you wish you could bottle.
But the mood is entirely different now.
Because Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier did not lock Jones up with a contract extension during the season and was never able get things done for the football program, he himself is on the chopping block. Frazier is now perhaps the most unpopular guy in the islands since Captain Cook re-landed at Kealakekua Bay in 1779.
SMU, which has been seeking a new head coach since Oct. 28, has been patiently waiting for the right man. With run-n-shoot dreams dancing in their heads, the Mustangs are reportedly going to sign Jones to a contract that will pay him $2 million a year to breathe life into a program that went 1-11 this past season.
Jones surely will get job done at SMU. He has proven his ability under far tougher circumstances. It’s party time in Dallas.
On the flipside, in the span of just a few days, Warrior fans have experienced the ultimate high, followed by the lowest low.
Walking up and down Bourbon Street earlier this week, it was easy to see how much love the people of Hawaii have for their team. Their immense pride was unmistakable, unavoidable and almost unreal.
The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands and the lack of professional sports make UH athletics an extremely important unifying factor for the people of the 50th State.
Jones understands the beauty in all of this. He sold it to recruits. He himself was a quarterback at Hawaii. He understands the uniqueness of the culture. At the same time, he overcame the challenges. He rose to the occasion.
But in the end, he left. And paradise has lost.
