Jones touts his BOISE, Idaho >> Most coaches led off with their offense. This is, after all, the Western Athletic Conference, the whacky WAC where footballs fill the skies from Pearl Harbor to the Louisiana bayou.
defense for a change
The offensive-minded coach
says stopping offenses will be
the key for the WarriorsBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comSo, naturally, when it was June Jones' turn to talk about his team at the WAC Season Preview, the first words out of his mouth were about ... defense?
Jones is known far and wide as an offense guy, one of the foremost practitioners of the wide-open run-and-shoot attack.
So it was interesting when the Hawaii coach opened his talk yesterday lauding his players on the other side of the line.
"I know that we'll be much improved on defense," the former quarterback said. "We will have to be to win at some of the places we're going."
Some of UH's toughest games will be on the road this fall, beginning with revenge-minded Brigham Young on Sept. 6 and then conference encounters at Texas-El Paso (Sept. 21), Boise State (Oct. 5), Fresno State (Oct. 25) and Rice (Nov. 16).
UH has lost 11 consecutive against those four teams on the road since winning 41-21 at El Paso in 1992.
"(The schedule) is very difficult for us this year," Jones said. "BYU's very pissed off about last year (a 72-45 UH victory at Aloha Stadium). That will be a challenge. ... The places we have to go play at in the conference are the toughest for us to go to. I don't remember ever going to UTEP and playing good. I'm sure they have, but I don't remember. At Fresno many teams don't win. At Boise many teams don't win."
Losing at UTEP, Texas Christian, Rice and Fresno in 2000, the Warriors stumbled to a 3-9 record after going 9-4 and winning the Oahu Bowl in 1999, Jones' first season. The record spiked up again to 9-3 in 2001, as UH went 2-1 away from the islands, beating Southern Methodist and Tulsa.
Jones said the improved defense should help the Warriors avoid another even-year plummet.
"This is the first time on defense we have some depth and we have the personnel to be the best defense I've had since I've been there," he said. "Playing the same scheme every year allows our players the opportunity to get good."
Jones pointed out depth at end (La'anui Correa, Travis Laboy and Kevin Jackson), linebacker (Chris Brown, Pisa Tinoisamoa, Chad Kalilimoku and Ikaika Curnan) and cornerback (Abraham Elimimian, Hyrum Peters and Kelvin Millhouse) as defensive strong points.
Not that the Warriors are starting from scratch on offense. Tim Chang returns at quarterback, as well as six other starters -- plus others from three Jones recruiting classes who have had time to learn the run-and-shoot schemes and could contribute.
Jones termed the skills of kicker Justin Ayat, punter Mat McBriar and kick returner Chad Owens "rare." That's also a good way to describe hearing him talk about defense with such fervor.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise, though, when Jones pumps up any of his guys. He likes to compare current players to others he's coached in the NFL (like right guard Vince Manuwai, an All-America candidate who reminds Jones of All-Pro Chris Hinton, whom he coached in Atlanta).
If it bothers Jones that the media chose his team to finish fourth in the league, he didn't show it. He knows the reason -- the schedule.
"I'm very optimistic," Jones said. "But I've coached long enough to know the most talented teams didn't always win the most games. Winning comes from overcoming the outside forces that try to disrupt your success."
And, by far, the biggest of those factors is playing a tough team on the road.
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