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Interesting Possibility

V

VikNut

Active member
Found this via footballscoop posted on SI.com

Q&A with former SMU coach June Jones

Before he surprisingly resigned as SMU’s coach in early September, June Jones revived a program decimated by the NCAA’s death penalty in 1987 by taking the Mustangs to their first bowl game in 25 years, the first of a school-record four straight. The 61-year-old recently spoke with The Inside Read about why he resigned, how he views his tenure at SMU and the proliferation of wide-open offenses.

When you resigned, you cited unspecified personal reasons. Are you OK?

I’m fine. I had a couple of issues, just I hadn’t been sleeping. I was trying to run the whole thing, get everything right. I just kind of had a couple of weird things happen, but that was just because I hadn’t been sleeping.

Why hadn’t you been sleeping?

I don’t know. I haven’t slept much anyway. When I worked for the [Houston] Oilers I slept from 3 o’clock to 7 o’clock in the morning. It was nonstop. You get kind of like that. So, I’ve been living that way for almost 20 years and then all of a sudden started sleeping about an hour every night. That kind of was a bad deal. But all in all, I’m fine. I got no issues. I look forward to the next year somewhere.

You clearly still want to coach.

Oh yeah. I want to coach probably five to eight more years. I don’t know where. I’ve had a couple of calls, but nothing really is going to spring until the end of November or first of December. So, we’ll see what happens … I’ve had a lot of time, already a month. I’m bored already. Just anxious to see what’s out there at the end of the season.

How do you view your time at SMU?

Well, we became relevant again. We went to four bowls in four years and we were like three plays away from going five years in a row. They got some issues at SMU that they’ve got to overcome, and I don’t know if they will ever overcome them. But I know one thing, what we did was miraculous and I’m not looking back on it in any other way than that.

What were those issues?

All the things that I’ve said before, they’ve got to help the kids. They’ve got to get some tutors, academics more toward the student-athletes. They’ve made strides in that area, but they’ve got to go a lot further … The campus is unbelievable. It’s just a tough gig. It will be tough for the next guy, too.

What have you been up to since you left SMU?

I was in Hawaii for a week. But I’ve been up in Oregon. I have a place up in Oregon (about an hour outside of Portland towards Mt. Hood) where I grew up and my kids and grandkids are up there. So I’ve just been kind of hanging with them.

So is your next job as a head coach or assistant?

I would think that it would be a head job. It will probably not be a big‑time school but I don’t really care. I just go do my thing somewhere. Somebody is going to be losing forever and want another guy to come in and maybe get them winning again.

• ELLIS: Who leads the Heisman Trophy race following Week 9?

What do you still want to accomplish?

For me, it’s just about the kids and the energy to win and to do it the way that we do it, playing exciting football. It’s always been about the kids that I’ve had, like watching Emmanuel [Sanders when he scored three touchdowns in the Denver Broncos’ win vs. San Diego] was unreal. To think that I kicked him off the team [at SMU], talked to him to come back in and he thanks me for it every day. Those types of things are what I live for.

Football is as wide open offensively as it’s ever been. Do you take pride in that with your in the Run ‘n’ Shoot roots?

Everybody is doing what we started. I enjoy watching Peyton [Manning] and I enjoy watching [Tom] Brady because they’re running kind of basically what [Ted] Marchibroda and what Mouse [Davis] and I ran. I really enjoy that. Everything’s cyclical. I’m watching Stanford play. I’m watching Arkansas play. It’s amazing how nobody can stop a power-I anymore because they are playing these spread teams. That’s been kind of interesting to me. Really the thing that’s still winning in the National Football League is what Peyton, Brady and Belichick does. That’s been consistent and I don’t see that changing. I think in college football, you’re always going to have a little bit more now probably of a quarterback that can run a little bit more. But I still think you have to win the game with that guy that can play under center and be a passer, not a runner.
 
Wow, if you read between the lines:

"I will be coaching in the Big Sky next season at Portland State. They haven't made as much traction on the field as they would have liked, so Coach Burton has asked me to come in and coach the Quarterbacks and be offensive Coordinator. They have some real talent there, and I believe I can help them get to the next level".

Interviewer: Don't you want to be head coach?

"Well I have done that. I want to get back into coaching. Really working with the players. As head coach you have so many responsibilities that keep you from working individually with players."

Read between the lines: I'll be coordinator, work with the kids for a year, I should be able to get these guys on the same page and then after they decline to renew coach Burton's contract, I'll be ready to step into the head coaching position.
 
Here are the two parts of that interview that make me think this has nothing to do with the Viks:
VikNut said:
......I look forward to the next year somewhere....

....I would think that it would be a head job.
Click to expand...

When I read that, I hear him saying he is going to be a head coach next season. With Burton probably not going anywhere next year, I don't see it happening. I sure hope I'm wrong.
 
IF :nod: Jones would take the job, my guess would be that someone would come up with the :twocents: to buy Burton out.
 
golfer said:
IF :nod: Jones would take the job, my guess would be that someone would come up with the :twocents: to buy Burton out.
Click to expand...

If someone has the money to buy out the coach and send him packing, why not use that same money to bail out the struggling football program. A coach usually can't survive without a program.

On second thought, you're talking about Hersh, right?
 
VikHoops said:
Here are the two parts of that interview that make me think this has nothing to do with the Viks:
VikNut said:
......I look forward to the next year somewhere....

....I would think that it would be a head job.
Click to expand...

When I read that, I hear him saying he is going to be a head coach next season. With Burton probably not going anywhere next year, I don't see it happening. I sure hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree. If he thought SMU had issues with student athletes, wait until he gets to PSU.

He said something will "spring" in late November or early December. I guess we'll wait and see. Rumblings I'm hearing, it could have more to do with what is happening in Corvallis with Riley and not Portland.
 
Whatever is the case, the new AD would be remiss not to at least follow this up with some phonecalls.
 
Riley isn't going anywhere. He has so many years left on his contract that it's financially impossible for OSU to buy him out and afford a new coach who will want at least twice what Riley gets paid.
 
Re Riley, Canzano had a column on that issue the other day. He was begging OSU to re-negotiate the Riley contract, which is apparently a seven year guarantee. He must be tenured faculty. Or an adjunct with a helluva lot of seniority! Oh, but wait - adjuncts, even seniors, are paid about 40,000$. Senior tenured line is around 70,000$. He's paid how many million? Something screwy here.
 
Riley's contract was negotiated in a way where years are automatically added on every time he reaches a bowl game. That has happened more seasons than not during his tenure, so more years to his contract keep getting added. No athletics coaches are hired as faculty.
 
While we may go hunting and fishing in Montana, Eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho and such kind of places, there are no collegiate sports in these events. :D

When we think of Oregon collegiate sports, we immediately think of the Pac-12 and its members, whose original eight members were coastal. Where we are in Portland, in the Willamette Valley, we think of going to the coast, to the mountains (Coastal Range and Cascade Range) and to the tributaries and main flows of the Willamette and Columbia rivers.

I believe we identify with being a "coastal state" university like those of the original Pac-8 who sought out affiliation with one another. I believe we identify strongly with Sac State, UC-Davis, Cal Poly and CS-Northridge. We also have much in common with Long Beach State and UC-Riverside. We would have great incentive to achieve the heights of CS-Fullerton. Dare we dream to achieve the social maturity and reputation of UC-Santa Barbara, or to achieve quiet greatness akin to that of UC-Irvine? PSU's own Mouse Davis and June Jones built up the program at Hawaii.

I believe there is a hole in our identity playing Olympic Sports anywhere else than the Big West Conference. They have nine members at present, eight of which are in California, with Hawaii playing as an outside-of-California team.

I propose Portland State could align itself to play Olympic Sports as an outside-of-California team, becoming Hawaii's "travel partner," as that is the distinction we would both have in common. They are the "invading Rainbow Warriors" from the Pacific Islands and we are the "invading Vikings" from north of the border. CS-Bakersfield plays in the WAC and is likely content to be there. They are of quality but may not be considered a social fit for the BWC. With all of Portland Metro behind us, PSU can certainly be, given that we are the place of salmon and Oregon wines, pinot noir being a favorite. Worth the trip up north, don'tcha think? I think we can make ourselves welcome. We share wine making in common and Hawaii produces great coffee, which we love to consume.


When the Viking Pavilion is completed, it will likely be considered an "acceptable facility" by BWC standards.



Their Men's and Women's Sports include: (1) Basketball, (2) Cross Country, (3) Golf, (4) Soccer, (5) Tennis. We have each of these now except Men's Golf and Men's Soccer -- not hard to fill in a place like Portland.

BWC Sports specific to men and women include baseball (men), track & field (men) volleyball (women) and water polo (women). We could bring back our baseball team and instead of water polo, we could opt for a women's track and field team. Depending on the final nature of the Viking Pavilion, we may also be able to support an ice hockey team, at least as a club sport.

I believe we would come into a greater sense of identity with this affiliation. Also, think of the travel to games. In the big sky, you suffer much more risk navigating ice and snow getting to game day destinations. Remember the men's basketball trip to Gonzaga? What a harrowing experience! They deserved that win for what they went through just to get to that game!



Now think about game day destinations in the Sac area (UCD, CSUS); SoCal (UCI, CSUF, UCR, CSULB, CSUN); Coastal California (UCSB, Cal Poly) and Hawaii. Already a huge upgrade in the program. What's more is that the BWC is tapped in to playing teams like UCLA, USC, Cal and others in soccer, volleyball, etc. What an additional upgrade.

We don't have to be rich, but if we to live in this neighborhood, we would need to keep up appearances and mature ourselves socially ... being ourselves, but being our best selves.

 
There's also an ice hockey club at PSU. They play at Valley Ice Center over in Beaverton, where the Winterhawks practice.
 
Great analysis, BV. I think the school would do great putting you on the visionary board. However, if I may,

1. Recently, the Big West kicked out both Idaho and Utah State in basketball because they wanted a California only conference, even after Utah State had represented the conference well in March Madness. They did add Hawaii because, well, its Hawaii. If there was a way to make Portland (the city) as appeasing as Hawaii, I doubt we would be having this discussion. We could write our ticket anywhere.

2. No one is satisfied with being in the WAC which is why I think Bakersfield is the most logical choice when the BWC opens itself up to expansion (2-3 years). They've only recently moved up from DII which is why they aren't in the conference yet.

3. Sac State is perfectly fine staying in the Big Sky for basketball. They have no inclination (from what I'm hearing) about moving to the BWC or anywhere else for that matter.

4. As far as wine, California has always viewed Oregon wine as "inferior". Always had, always will. I mean, come on. Californians would not know a good thing if it bit them in the butt. :lol:
 
If we hypothetically added baseball, is it reasonable to think they could play at Hillsboro Stadium given PSU just inked a deal to use it for softball? It'd replace some of the scholarships lost from football and add a sport that folks on the west side are clearly interested in. Sign a couple of OOC games with the Ducks or Beavers and that's a guaranteed sell out.
 
BobWoodshed said:
If we hypothetically added baseball, is it reasonable to think they could play at Hillsboro Stadium given PSU just inked a deal to use it for softball? It'd replace some of the scholarships lost from football and add a sport that folks on the west side are clearly interested in. Sign a couple of OOC games with the Ducks or Beavers and that's a guaranteed sell out.
Click to expand...

How close is PSU to having the entire outdoor side of the athletic operation run out of that complex?

I made a joke on an Oregonlive comment stream (one of the "football's doing badly" articles) about moving the whole campus out there, and people tried to take me literally. The point, however, besides "location location location" is that you have both Nike AND Intel out there. There's clearly an athletic support core in Washington County... though of course you cannot escape Duck wear in either the Nike company store or, for that matter, the Columbia Sportswear company store.

I know that OSU v Oregon was a novelty when Oregon brought baseball back. Thing is, do you watch Pac-12 Network games from PK Park? Oregon doesn't draw. Obviously OSU does. Just keep that nuance in mind.
 
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