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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Former University of Hawaii Warrior football head coach June Jones stands on the sideline during the first half of a high school football game between the Liberty Patriots
June Jones, the winningest coach in University of Hawaii football history, wants the job again.
Jones told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a brief phone interview today that he will apply for the opening created when Norm Chow was fired Sunday.
“I don’t want to comment further at this time because the attention should stay on the team now, and hopefully (interim coach) Chris (Naeole) can lead them to some wins down the stretch,” Jones said.
The Rainbow Warriors are 2-7 and play at UNLV on Saturday. Even if they win the remaining four games they are assured a fifth-consecutive losing season.
Jones, 62, a former UH and NFL quarterback, was head coach nine seasons at Manoa, seven of them ending with winning records.
Upon his arrival in 1999, Jones led Hawaii to a 9-4 record including a win in the Oahu Bowl. UH had gone 0-12 the previous season.
His teams compiled a 76-41 mark, including a 12-0 regular season in 2007. The Jan. 1, 2008, Sugar Bowl, which Hawaii lost 41-10 to Georgia, was Jones’ last game as Hawaii coach.
He left for SMU, where his teams went 36-53 from 2008 to 2014, and he led the Mustangs to their first bowl game since the program received the NCAA “death penalty” in 1985. He resigned from SMU after starting last season 0-2, for “personal issues.”
Jones returned to Hawaii and has been working with Saint Louis School quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
