- May 21, 2026
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June Jones, the innovative coach who brought the run-and-shoot offense to prominence at Hawaii, SMU and the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, died Thursday. He was 73.
Jones learned the pass-heavy system from Mouse Davis and later deployed it to engineer two of college football's most dramatic rebuilds. At Hawaii starting in 1999, he inherited an 18-game losing streak and immediately delivered a 9-4 record and WAC title — the largest single-season turnaround ever at that time. His Rainbow Warriors teams featured record-setting quarterbacks Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan, with Chang becoming college football's all-time passing yards leader at 17,000 yards. Hawaii went 76-41 under Jones, including a 12-1 mark in 2007.
Jones then revived SMU from a 1-11 nadir, producing the Mustangs' first winning season in 12 years by his second year and laying groundwork for the program's eventual return to power-conference status.
His career spanned the USFL, CFL, NFL, XFL and high school ranks. Jones finished 112-84 in college, earned national coach of the year honors in 1999 and was named conference coach of the year three times.
Mickey's Angle: Jones proved that bold offensive philosophy and belief in players can resurrect dead programs — a blueprint still worth studying for any fan watching coaching searches this offseason.
Source: CBS Sports - written by Mickey the Mouth from the original report.