Daronte’ Jones promised he would not become emotional, then admittedly became emotional.
"It’s definitely tough," said Jones, who is departing the University of Hawaii football team to become Wisconsin’s defensive backs coach. "In this coaching business, it’s not supposed to get emotional. But when you leave a program, it’s a tough time. It gets emotional."
Jones was hired to coach the secondary on UH coach Norm Chow’s initial staff in 2012. Last year, Jones was promoted to associate head coach.
"I wasn’t planning on going anywhere,"Jones said.
But then newly hired Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst and one of Jones’ friends were discussing non-football-related matters.
"They were talking about ice fishing," Jones said. "My name kind of came up through ice fishing, not that I ice fish."
Chryst and Jones both coached in the Canadian Football League.
"My name came up, and they reached out to me," Jones said. "That was it."
Jones said one of the attractions is Wisconsin and Maryland are members of the Big Ten. Jones was raised in Maryland.
"It’s almost as close as I’m going to get at this point," Jones said.
Wisconsin will pay Jones $250,000 annually. about $100,00 more than he earned at UH.
Jones was the point recruiter for right guard Dejon Allen, and defensive backs Trayvon Henderson, Daniel Lewis, Jerrel Jackson, Jalen Rogers, and Nick Nelson.
"It’s really about the staff," Jones said. "The thing about our staff is no one takes the credit for recruiting. Some places you go, you have that type of competition amongst the staff. That makes it difficult because you might feel like, ‘I have to sign a guy just to bring in a guy.’ Coach Chow did a great job stressing to us as a staff it’s not who brings in a guy, it’s about bringing in guys who can help the program."
Jones said defensive line coach Lewis Powell, for instance, recruited defensive backs who were in his assigned area.
Jones said he expects the Warriors to do well this coming season.
"With everyone coming back and the strides we made this past year, I’m excited with what’s going to happen at UH," Jones said. "I’ll be following them wherever I am."
