Sidelines
Spring football washes
away strange winterWE brought umbrellas, but there was no need.
It was beautiful, with bright sun and blue sky, green grass and cool breeze. The guys were running again, drilling again, passes flying through the air.
There were so many quarterbacks in orange jerseys it looked like a county road crew. The defensive linemen hit the sled, sharply, and in perfect rhythm. The offensive linemen got yelled at by Coach Cav.
But in a loving way.
It was the first day of Hawaii spring football practice, and June Jones was still the coach.
Even after this offseason. The Fieldturf delays. The contract that wasn't. The friends of friends of friends wanting to know if he'd be interested in Oregon State.
"It's (this offseason) been no different this year than from any other year," he said.
Well, uh, yeah, I guess he's right. It seems the last few offseasons have had their fill of drama. We've heard about playing surfaces and contracts and possible suitors for a couple of years now. There is always one crisis (thankfully no car crashes this time) or controversy after another.
But this offseason seemed even more chaotic, somehow. It was another year of all this, as if time added to the tension, somehow.
It kicked off with a stunning bowl loss, in which Jones had to suspend one of his guys. Then, despite all the previous rumors turned headlines and periodic panic attacks, came what was probably the first realistic threat of Jones and another job -- what looked like actual inquiry from a place where he might actually go.
There were headaches with the conference, an official reprimand. And still, no new contract in sight.
Jones said yesterday that none of this stuff had bothered him. He always says that.
We should all be so lucky.
But spring practice started yesterday, football officially under way for another season, and look who was there. The man in black. Tall, lean. Arms folded, taking it all in. Gesturing, directing, coaching. Using the same, old familiar answer -- ("no") -- to all of my questions.
He hasn't missed a beat.
The offseason was over, and now there was only football, on a beautiful, sunny, blue, green, perfect spring morning. Time to play. Time to coach.
"It's always good," Jones would say, "to get out."
And as the guys snapped their chinstraps, everything else blew away on the breeze.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com