June Jones wanted to return to Hawaii and lead the football program again.
In fact, he still wants the head job.
Jones, though, declined Hawaii’s offer to return and lead the program to replace former coach Todd Graham on Friday night.
The terms, he said on Twitter, simply weren’t acceptable. “No coach in their right mind,” he said, would accept the job that was presented to him.
So I would like to comment and give my thoughts on the Football Head Coaching job..I am still interested in this job for the people of Hawaii but the job offered to me today there is no way I could accept with the conditions offered me …No coach in their right mind would accept!
— June Jones (@CoachJuneJones) January 22, 2022
Dictating who can be on my staff and only 2 year contract..What recruit would come if I was here for 2 years???..this has never been about money-but it is about giving me the ability to turn our program around and not have people tell me who is on my staff or how to coach my team
— June Jones (@CoachJuneJones) January 22, 2022
Jones said on Twitter that he was only offered a two-year contract and hinted that he was going to be told which coaches were going to be on his staff, instead of having the freedom to do that himself.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Adam Rittenberg, Jones and Hawaii athletic director David Matlin disagreed about a succession plan for after Jones. Matlin eventually offered Jones a three-year deal, but it wasn’t enough.
Jones coached at Hawaii from 1999-2007, and is the winningest coach in school history. He went 76-41 in his nine seasons there, and led Hawaii to a Sugar Bowl during his final season. He also spent seven seasons coaching SMU, the Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers and the Canadian Football Team’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Though Jones’ agent told ESPN that he “still wants to coach there,” the two sides are at odds.
“I understand that there has been a lot of support for Coach Jones this past week, but he has declined our offer,” Matlin said in a statement, via ESPN. “I respect his decision and we need to move forward in our search. At the end of the day, we couldn’t agree on a succession plan that I felt was important for our student-athletes and supporters of Rainbow Warrior football.”
