June Jones hopes Cal Lee keeps coaching at Saint Louis

June Jones will likely coach football at Saint Louis School in the coming years.

But the former NFL and University of Hawaii head coach said in an exclusive interview Saturday he hopes Cal Lee continues on at the helm of the Crusaders varsity with Ron Lee as offensive coordinator. Jones doesn’t plan to be on the field coaching in 2017.

“I haven’t talked to Cal about it yet,” said Jones, a day after news broke that Jones would become director of athletic programs and development at the Honolulu all-boys private school and football powerhouse. “Obviously, we’re gonna talk real soon. … I don’t think he’s going to retire. Me coming there will help solve some of the (off-field) stuff and will help him have less of a burden.”

Lee, 70, and his 72-year-old brother, Ron, told the Star-Advertiser last month they’re considering retirement after leading the Crusaders to the first Open Division state championship.

It would make sense; they’re both coaching legends who have nothing left to prove. Cal is the winningest coach in Hawaii high school history. Ron is the most successful long-term offensive coach in the state prep annals.

The Lees and Jones have been friends since the 1970s. They were brought together through their Oregon connection (Cal played at Willamette, Ron coached at Oregon Tech), and the tutelage of the run-and-shoot offense by Mouse Davis (who was Jones’ coach at Portland State). All four coached together during some of UH’s glory years of last decade.

Jones, 63, might eventually replace Lee as head coach. Until then, Jones sees his job as helping to develop all of the school. Not just the football team. Not just the athletics programs.

Jones hopes to help do at Saint Louis what proved to be impossible at UH: improve facilities and the overall infrastructure. Friends of Jones who are prominent Crusaders alumni have courted him since Jones returned to Hawaii after leaving SMU and did not get the UH coaching job when it opened up last year.

“Tony (Guerrero) and Walter (Dods), I talked to them throughout the year,” Jones said. “Mike Hogan, he’s a key. They see an opportunity in the next three to five years to take Saint Louis to another level. There’s a vision.

“I learned a lot about the history of the school I didn’t know in recent months,” he said. “It’s still very focused on helping disadvantaged kids get educational opportunities and not just athletes.”

Jones spent the past year as offensive coordinator at Kapolei High School, where he helped develop sophomore quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa — the brother of Tua Tagovailoa, the record-breaking senior QB at Saint Louis who is committed to Alabama.

Neither Jones nor Kapolei head coach Darren Hernandez ruled out that the younger Tagovailoa might transfer to Saint Louis, even though he would have to sit out a year.

“That’s not for me or anyone else to decide, I don’t want to speculate on that,” Jones said. “My focus now is just to help as many kids as possible at Saint Louis.”

With Jones mentoring Taulia Tagovailoa, Kapolei made it to the state Open semifinals.

“I’d be crazy to not want him back,” Hernandez said of Taulia, who has also received a scholarship offer from Alabama. “But that’s his parents’ decision. Whatever they think is best. The kid is awesome. … He was already good, but being mentored by June took him to another level.”

As for Jones’ departure, Hernandez said he wasn’t surprised.

“When he came, I had no vision that he was going to be my OC for 10 years or anything like that,” Hernandez said. “In fact, I was thinking maybe he’d be offered a job at an FBS (college). San Jose, Nevada contacted him. He’s in demand. I knew it’d be a year-to-year thing. … June’s one year was a great impact not just on our players, but also our coaches.”

Jones said the San Jose State and Nevada jobs were somewhat intriguing, but he didn’t want to move again. He laughed when asked if he ever thought he’d end up working for a pop music star turned Catholic school president.

“I remember going to Waikiki when Ron was running the showroom at Outrigger and watching Glenn Medeiros perform,” Jones said. “Now he’s at Saint Louis, and he’s very sincere about educating these young men.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.