Wednesday, December 15, 1999
Jones is second
in AP coach-of-
the-year voting
Frank Beamer of unbeaten
By Paul Arnett
Virginia Tech beats out
Hawaii's coach
Star-BulletinJune Jones finished second to Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer in voting for the Associated Press' Coach-of-the-Year award released last night.
Several weeks ago, the Hawaii head coach predicted Beamer would win the national award, especially if he led the Hokies to the national championship game.
Virginia Tech finished 11-0 and is ranked second in the nation to Florida State. The Hokies will play the Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4.
"Any time you turn around a program and get them to the national championship game, you should be considered coach of the year," Jones said. "I'm flattered to even be considered, but in the end, it's really a team thing. You can't do it without your coaches and players, so it all comes back to them."
Beamer received 27 of the 84 votes in ballotting of AP member newspapers, TV and radio stations. Jones was second with 19 votes and Minnesota's Glen Mason third with nine votes
Jones already was named coach of the year by Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. Later today, the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award will be named by the Football Writers Association.
The season-ending loss to Washington State may have hurt Jones' chances with the AP voters. Had the Rainbows won, they would have set the NCAA record for the greatest turnaround in collegiate history.
Even still, their 8-4 record resulted in the Rainbows being selected to play in the Oahu Bowl. Hawaii faces Oregon State in the Christmas Day matchup. It is the Rainbows' first postseason appearance since the 1992 Holiday Bowl.
"The national honors and recognition are great and all," Jones said. "But I get most of my satisfaction from seeing the expressions on the faces of our players.
"They worked very hard to make this turnaround a reality. As a coach, I was only around for one of those 19 straight losses. But to see the expressions on our guys' faces after the win over Eastern Illinois is one reason I got back into college coaching."
These days, Jones is too busy preparing for the Oahu Bowl and finding a replacement for defensive coordinator Greg McMackin to think too long and hard about national honors.
The Rainbows go back to full pads this afternoon for the first time since the Washington State loss on Nov. 27. McMackin will remain as UH's defensive coordinator through the Oahu Bowl before joining the Texas Tech staff by the end of the month.
"No matter where I go or what I do, I don't think I'll ever have another year quite like this one," McMackin said. "If anybody should be coach of the year, it's June. What he has done here doesn't happen very often."
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