June Jones wasn’t hired as University of Hawaii head football coach Saturday, but he had nothing but kind words for the man who got the job.
Timmy Chang, a record-setting quarterback under Jones at UH from 2000 to 2004, was selected to replace Todd Graham, who resigned last Friday after current and former Warriors provided testimony at a Hawaii Senate hearing regarding his abusive treatment of players.
Jones commented on Chang’s hiring after coaching the Mauka team in Saturday’s Polynesian Bowl at Kamehameha’s Kunuiakea Stadium.
“I’m rooting for him. Hopefully, he’s going to win and do great,” Jones said. “Hopefully, he’ll bring an offense that scores a lot of points.”
Chang passed for 17,072 yards and 117 touchdowns at UH while guiding Jones’ run-and-shoot offense.
“He’s one of the great kids that I coached at the university and I have a lot of aloha for him,” Jones said.
Chang was a graduate assistant at SMU under Jones from 2012 to 2013. Chang served as wide receivers coach at Nevada in 2021, and was going to hold the same position at Colorado State before the UH job became open. Chang doesn’t have any head coaching experience.
“He wanted to coach and I taught him what I could for a couple of years and helped him get the (assistant) job at Jackson State and I’ve been following him quite a bit since then,” Jones said.
Jones added he won’t join Chang’s staff, but will help his former quarterback as much as he can.
“He has to get a good staff together. I’m sure he will,” Jones said.
Jones, 68, was hoping for a second stint as head coach of the Rainbow Warriors. He is the winningest head coach in UH’s Division I football history with a 76-41 record from 1999 to 2007.
Jones capped his run at UH with a 12-1 record and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl before abruptly leaving for SMU, where he coached from 2008 to 2014.
Jones was very appreciative of the support he had from fans, former players and politicians. Earlier Saturday, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said there was a “major leadership failure on multiple levels” that UH officials were unable to work out a deal to have Jones return as coach.
“I really don’t want to talk about the negative part of it, but a lot of people supported me and it was good to see that,” Jones said. “I know I would’ve got it turned around, but now Timmy gets a chance to do that.”
Meanwhile, UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said Saturday on Zoom that Jones “showed zero integrity in this process” with his public lobbying for the position.
“I haven’t seen it yet. Although I got a bunch of calls on it,” Jones said. “Somebody, I can’t remember who it was, Dan somebody, was questioning my character, which bothered me. But that’s what you’re dealing with sometimes with people.”
Jones, who served as head coach for the Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers, also was passed over for the UH head coaching position in 2015 when Nick Rolovich got the position. Rolovich also played under Jones from 2000 to 2001.
The hiring of Chang caps a week-long saga involving Jones, who applied Monday for the position.
Jones and UH athletic director David Matlin met via Zoom on Wednesday and again in person Friday.
Jones and agent Leigh Steinberg balked at the athletic director’s initial two-year offer and insistence on veto power over Jones’ potential hires for assistant coaches. The offer was extended to three years, but Jones still said no thanks.
Financial terms were not discussed, but Jones has always said money isn’t an issue and even previously offered to coach UH for free.
In a Twitter post Friday, Jones said: “No coach in their right mind would accept” UH’s offer, but he was still interested in the job.
Matlin said in a statement Friday: “I respect his decision and we need to move forward in our search.”
On Saturday, Jones said he has no ill will toward UH.
As for the Polynesian Bowl, Makai defeated Mauka 17-3 in the all-star game featuring 100 of the nation’s top players.
The only scoring of the first half was a 28-yard field goal by Mauka’s Jayden Fielding with 2:34 left before halftime, and a 3-yard run by Makai’s Noah Fifita and Ethan Sanchez’s PAT kick with 11 seconds remaining.
Sanchez made a 26-yard field goal with 7:55 remaining in the game to put Makai up 10-3. On Mauka’s first play of its next drive, linebacker Jaishawn Barham had a 29-yard pick-6 off a deflected pass to make it 17-3.
“I knew they were throwing that swing pass all game and I knew I was going to get one,” said Barham, a Maryland commit. “It was just a matter of time. I was waiting for that one.”
Barham and defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton, a Penn State commit, both had two tackles for losses.
Makai had 187 total yards and Mauka gained 160.
