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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM UH head football coach June Jones says the new WAC is as good as the old WAC. Three teams replace the four that left.

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Jones: 5 teams
make schedule tough

The UH coach expects
a sellout for the opener
against USC at Aloha Stadium

Answer: I would outlaw the camps. It's very uneven. If you're a coach at Fresno and SC's having a camp, you drive there and watch. We don't have money to fly up and watch. It's very unfair for us. I was the only one who voted against those camps in the WAC. Every other conference voted them out. ... I was the only dissenter (in the WAC). You think about it for the WAC, it's a cost deal. You go to Oregon, wherever, see everybody. Other conferences are competing with each other. I'm sure they're going to outlaw them after this year if the coaches' association has anything to do with it.

Q: Is the new WAC better because you don't have to travel as many miles?

A: I guess it would be, since we only go to LaTech now from that standpoint. We're scheduling independent games more east-oriented, so it will probably be the same.

Q: Is it a wash as far as competition?

A: I think it's a wash. If you take Fresno, you take Boise right now, they're as good as anybody. I'll be interested to see Boise at Georgia -- that will be interesting to watch. Fresno, you can say what you want, they're pretty good. And they've got a good home crowd.

Q: How will New Mexico State be?

A: They can get skill players. Watch, they're going to show up with five guys who can run 4.4. They've got Texas to recruit, lots of good leftovers. (Coach Hal Mumme) he's been there, done that. He's got Woody Widenhofer coaching the defense. They will win games they shouldn't win.

Q: Is this your toughest schedule?

A: I think it is. The quality of Fresno and Boise. USC, San Diego State, Wisconsin. Those five make it tough.

Q: What's this rebuilding project like compared to when you arrived in 1999?

A: Not even close. We're so much better physically than we were. We had tough guys like Dan Robinson and Dwight Carter, they played great in games. Now we have new guys at quarterback, running back. Four receivers, and none of them have played in games other than Ross (Dickerson) and Ian (Sample).

Q: Will you rotate your receivers?

A: It just depends how the kids do. If (the starters) come out of the box and play, we won't change.

Q: Will Davone Bess return kicks?

A: We'll probably keep him out of that. We've got Jason Ferguson. The freshman, Michael Washington. Maybe live with some mistakes. Just put him back there and there we go.

Q: In your travels, talking to fans and such, do you get any sense of optimism?

A: Everybody's excited about football. The opportunity to play against USC. People are just excited about football. The house will be sold out, you know that.

The worst-case scenario, we go 0-2 (after USC and Michigan State), we get a bye, go out and win on the road (at Idaho), we come back, the crowd will be there for Boise State. If we're lucky enough to knock them off, we're No. 1 in the WAC. If we do go in 2-0 -- we're going to try to knock them off, we will play harder than we ever did -- all of a sudden we have a chance for something incredible.

Q: Is there anything you as a coaching staff can do to avoid a large amount of injuries like there were last year?

A: I always think they're a bad-luck deal. We had a rash of shoulders. The year before, and 1999 we didn't have any.

Q: Will you do more scrimmaging this August than in previous camps?

A: Probably not. But the times we go live, there will be more intensity, because of Jerry.

Q: Does he prescribe to the same idea of not much contact in practice?

A: Yes and no. His idea of practice is a little different than mine. But I know what he needs and wants, and he'll get that. We'll figure out a way.

Q: One of the things we hear a lot from you and Jerry this summer is the theme of finding other ways to win. Can you talk about that?

A: We have to do certain things when we're playing certain teams. It's like when (former 49ers coach) Bill Walsh scripted 15 plays to start the game, and we would try to disrupt that, pick one off, get a sack, throw them out of rhythm. Maybe then they say, "We don't know what we're going to do." Little things like that. You've got to do what you've got to do. Emphasize different areas of special teams. Jerry knows how I am, we're going to throw the ball. At the same time we may have to throw more screens -- those become like runs for us.

Q: Does this signal a fundamental difference in the way you coach the offense, the kind of plays you run?

A: With Timmy (Chang at quarterback), we had great confidence that as we call stuff and move down the field, he would identify what he had to do and get the ball out. If our quarterback's not doing that, then I've got to script it for him. It's different in the sense that I might have to call things differently, not change what we're doing, but call the game.