Former University of Hawaii football coach June Jones has been named assistant head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

“They’re struggling on offense,” Jones said. “I’m going to try to help them.”

The Tiger-Cats are 0-5 with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

Jones departs Honolulu tonight and is expected to return in late November or early December. He said he will remain as athletic director of development for Saint Louis School, a position he accepted in December. He said his Saint Louis job is “basically raising money for building the buildings.”

Ryan Blangiardi, who was hired as Saint Louis’ associate athletic director two weeks ago, will handle the department’s day-to-day operations.

Jones has close ties in the Hamilton organization with general manager Eric Tillman and club president Scott Mitchell. (Although Mitchell is a former quarterback, he is not the one who played for the Detroit Lions.)

Jones said he was approached about the job two weeks ago. In an email to “family and friends,” Jones said the Tiger-Cats “made me an offer I could not refuse.”

Jones said there is another interesting aspect to the job. “The thing that excites me is they own the rights to Johnny Manziel,” Jones said of the enigmatic 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. “That could happen this year or it could happen next year.”

Jones is the winningest UH coach in the program’s Division I history, amassing a 76-41 record from 1999 through the 2008 Sugar Bowl. Jones, who played quarterback for two UH seasons, also was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers and at Southern Methodist University. In 2016, he served as Kapolei High’s assistant coach.