June Jones Resigns as SMU Coach

It is a bit ironic that SMU and June Jones ended their marriage-gone-bad while the college football world was focused on the NCAA reducing Penn State's penalties. That is because Jones was the latest coach to fail to return SMU to the glory it enjoyed before they received a death penalty that was not reduced despite the Mustangs doing all that was asked and more (but was it with integrity?) after being caught for the xth time paying for players. But that was then and this is now and SMU was always in the way of bigger programs who wanted to pay the very same players SMU bought. Anyway, Jones can go back to Hawaii and play golf with the incredible amount of money he earned returning SMU to mediocrity. He should have always stayed there as he was a perfect fit both schematically and personally for Hawaii but they could not afford the success he brought to the program. Hell, he took Hawaii to the Sugar Bowl. Think of that. Sure they got killed, but Hawaii? But his earning $800,000 annually was a problem for a state-run school without booster money for football. A private school in Dallas with booster money that could no longer go to five star prospects seemed like a good fit. Financially it was, but Jones wanted an even bigger program and his flirtations with ASU--remember that crazy situation with their boosters canceling him?--and Maryland left SMU fans with a bad taste in their mouths. But while he was winning they kept quiet, especially after he beat TCU in its stadium in OT in 2011. But it went all downhill quickly from there as the Mustangs stopped winning (12-15 since beginning of 2012) and Jones's refusal to recruit and don't-really-want-to-be-here body language doomed the situation. The Mustangs need to rebuild yet again. As for Jones, he will always have the crazy run-and-shoot days from Hawaii, which gave me something to check on when getting home late on a Saturday (loved hitting those ungodly overs).