WHO would have thought that we'd be talking so much about June in December? Maybe Jones can get
everyone to pull togetherBut the hiring of June Jones to coach the Hawaii football Rainbows came as big news indeed. And talk about the red-carpet treatment Junes received, including a press conference and then a social function with the who's who of Hawaii at the governor's residence.
The contrast between Junes and Fred vonAppen, the out-going (in more ways than one) Rainbow coach proved startling indeed.
There was Jones, the former Rainbow quarterback and assistant coach and now anointed savior of UH football, sitting at the right hand of Gov. Ben Cayetano.
That says a lot, considering that Cayetano and vonAppen never saw eye-to-eye, literally and figuratively.
Who can ever forget their verbal donnybrook the week of the 1997 season opener against Minnesota? Even though the Rainbows beat the Gophers -- a game in which the governor was conspicuous by his absence -- in retrospect, it turned out to be vonAppen's undoing.
HE didn't realize you don't get things done locally going against the grain, the establishment, the governor. A winning football coach can do anything. But not if you're losing as vonAppen did. By last count it's 18 games in a row following an NCAA rock-bottom 0-12 season. And in his three years, the Rainbows never won a road game.
If bad football was a turnoff, vonAppen compounded the situation with his blunt, my-way-or-else demeanor. So it was not surprising that the UH administration opted for an expensive coaching change despite a money crunch.
Now, along came Jones, who could be just the answer to turn around a football program left in shambles. No question, of the announced candidates, he seems the most qualified to make the attempt.
Jones might have taken a pay cut to come here, but he didn't come cheap. The university is making a big investment, not only in Jones, but in Division-I football.
"The UH football program is important to the state of Hawaii. It's different than in a lot of other places," Jones said. "I feel there will always be a commitment if we put a viable product on the field."
Several years ago, Cayetano didn't want to be known as the governor who lost the Pro Bowl for Hawaii, so he made every effort to keep the National Football League postseason all-star game here.
Now, he doesn't want to be in office should UH ever decide to drop football. With that in mind, Cayetano says he is going to do everything he can to help raise funds in the private sector for UH football.
"People are so down right now that we needed something like this," Cayetano said about the hiring of Jones. "I'm excited because he'll have an attractive product ... a wide-open style of football."
MORE than that, Cayetano added, "What he brings is how he feels about Hawaii. He has a love for Hawaii and its people. To me, that's a bigger asset than his knowledge of football."
Jones made it clear right at the outset that if it weren't Hawaii, he wouldn't even be thinking about leaving the San Diego Chargers.
Minutes into an interview that lasted four hours with the selection committee, Jones knew Hawaii is what he wanted for himself and his family.
"Affection for the people of Hawaii is why I'm coming back. It's hard to explain to people on the mainland the feeling I have," he said.
"I will do whatever it takes to get the job done," he said. Jones is confident that everyone will be in the same boat, pulling in the same direction to get it done.