June Jones declines University of Hawaii football coaching job

June Jones has turned down an offer to become the next University of Hawaii head football coach.

Jones met today with UH president David Lassner and athletic director David Matlin. Jones’ financial compensation was not discussed. But Jones was prepared to ask about the financial range for assistant coaches, as well as the recruiting budget and other planned resources for the program.

Jones turned down the offer during the meeting.

After news of Jones’ rejection circulated, Matlin issued this statement:

“We met with Coach Jones earlier today and, unfortunately, could not come to terms with an agreement for him to be our next head football coach. I understand that there has been a lot of support for Coach Jones this past week but he has declined our offer. I respect his decision and we need to move forward in our search. At the end of the day we couldn’t agree on a succession plan that I felt was important for our student-athletes and supporters of Rainbow Warrior football. We are working tirelessly to get a head coach on board to lead our program and are fully aware of the sensitivity to national signing day on Feb. 2.”

On Monday, Jones, 68, applied for the job that was vacated with Todd Graham’s resignation last week.

Jones, who is the winningest coach in UH’s Division I football history, received widespread support from former players, coaches and business leaders.

Jones and UH athletic director David Matlin met in a Zoom meeting on Wednesday. Matlin, who returned from a mainland trip today, also interviewed other candidates on Wednesday.

The rejection appears to vault former UH quarterback Tim Chang as a front-runner for the job. Brian Smith, a former UH center who was at Washington State, also is a known candidate.

The Rainbow Warriors, who have been training under interim head coach Jacob Yoro, are falling behind in the recruiting battle. They have nearly 20 scholarships to fill.

—
For more Hawaii football, visit the Warrior Beat blog.