June Jones Says Aloha To Hawaii

Seriously, June Jones must be smoking some mauwie wauwie because he's accepted the SMU head coaching position, and is leaving Honolulu behind for Dallas.

Honestly, it's a move that I can't really figure out. Jones didn't attend SMU, nor was he raised anywhere near Dallas. And moving from the WAC to Conference USA doesn't really increase his chances of contending for a BCS title year in and year out. Besides, he's turned Hawaii into a contender, and really reaped the fruits of his hard work this season with a Sugar Bowl berth.

Obviously, Colt Brennan won't be back next year, but Tyler Graunke has proven this year that he can step into the starter's role. So it's not like next year's squad will be devoid of talent.

The biggest factor I see in Jones making this decision is that he probably believes that it will be easier to recruit in Dallas. It is tough to get young kids to leave their comfort zone, and head a few hours offshore of the U.S. with the possibility, not even a guarantee, that they will play. Being based in Dallas, Jones gets to canvas Texas, as well as the surrounding states for recruits, and they can make it home without having to fly through a few time zones.

While I'm not sure that leaving Hawaii for SMU is the best decision, even if Jones was determined to get back to the mainland, I do applaud all the work that he's done in making Hawaii a competitive program. Though, I'm sure that a part of him hopes that he won't be remembered solely for that awful Sugar Bowl loss. On the brightside, I'm pretty sure that Colt Brennan doesn't remember much of that loss at all.