June Jones-Hawaii reunion stalls after sides rip one another over negotiations

It has been something however a banner previous few months for Hawaii’s soccer program. In December, a number of Rainbow Warrior gamers made claims to the San Francisco Chronicle of verbal and emotional abuse by then-coach Todd Graham. A month later, Graham was introduced earlier than two Hawaii Senate committees to testify below oath about what was occurring in this system.

Every week after that, Graham resigned after two seasons and an 11-11 file in Manoa. The college has been in search of his alternative since, and it appeared as if a reunion with June Jones, the coach with essentially the most wins in program historical past, was in line.

Both sides have been nonetheless as lately as Friday, however then issues deteriorated rapidly and publicly. 

MORE: Why did Todd Graham resign at Hawaii?

Jones began by tamping down the rumors a few return. He informed native media that whereas he was nonetheless within the job, he could not settle for it because it was offered to him by athletic director David Matlin. He went into element in regards to the course of after strolling out of the negotiations; specifically, he listed stipulations with which he took specific situation.

“I’d still like the job, but I was not really offered a job that’s conducive to winning. How are you going to recruit when you’ve only got a two-year contract? I told Dave [Matlin] I’ll take a five-year contract and you can fire me anytime, no penalty,” Jones stated. “How are you going to recruit when kids want to know who their coach is going to be for the next four or five years?”  

MORE: Todd Graham introduced earlier than Hawaii state senate to testify about his program

Beyond the size of the contract, Jones was significantly towards the notion of ceding management of personnel selections. The Hawaii administration reportedly has a succession plan in place, and it contains Jones hiring Colorado State wideouts coach Timmy Chang, who was a star quarterback below Jones at Hawaii from 2000-04.

UPDATE: Hawaii named Chang as its new head coach Saturday night time. Jones stated he would “help him as much as I can” however wouldn’t be a part of his employees. 

“I’ve never taken a job that dictated who I can hire and who I can’t hire — and I don’t think any coach in their right mind would take a job like that,” he stated. “They offered, but it wasn’t acceptable what they offered.”

Jones, 68, led the Rainbow Warriors from 1999-07. He received two convention titles, received double-digit video games 3 times and led this system to a top-15 rating in his last season. Hawaii was 0-12 the season earlier than Jones’ arrival and had misplaced 18 consecutive video games.

As a lot as contract size and personnel selections bothered Jones, he stated his familiarity with this system led him to think about coming again.

“It’s not about money. It’s not about anything else other than trying to help the local kids and the people of Hawaii and the support has been unbelievable everywhere I go,” he stated. “Hopefully they reconsider. It’s not like I don’t know how to turn around a program and it’s not like it’s anything different or revolutionary from when I was here before.”

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Then Hawaii’s administration responded. Through spokesman Dan Meisenzahl, it criticized Jones for his dealing with of the negotiations, saying it wasn’t “honest.” 

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Jones stated he stays within the job however that the ball is in Hawaii’s court docket.

As for whether or not the sensation for a reunion is mutual, UH stated the job was nonetheless open.

Then Hawaii employed Chang.

This article has been up to date with Hawaii hiring Chang.