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June Jones is giving up the paradise of Hawaii for the daunting task of trying to restore SMU to football respectability.
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Jones, who coached Hawaii to an unbeaten regular season, withstood an emotional plea from Warriors fans as well as the governor and decided Monday to head back to the mainland to guide a team that finished with a 1-11 record.
He agreed to a 5-year deal with SMU, which will pay him about $2 million a year, agent Leigh Steinberg told the Associated Press.
"He slept on it, finally came to peace and arrived at a decision," Steinberg said. "I think he's exhilarated by the challenge, by the environment."
Steinberg expected SMU to hold an afternoon news conference to introduce their new coach.
Jones was touched by the outpouring of support from Hawaii fans, including Gov. Linda Lingle, but he was ultimately lured by SMU's facilities and bigger budget. Jones called Hawaii officials Monday to tell them.
Jones spent Sunday in Dallas meeting with SMU officials and the search committee that has been working since late October to hire a replacement for Phil Bennett. As the day went on, more people from Hawaii reached out to Jones, hoping to persuade him to return to the team he's guided to national prominence the last nine years.
Hawaii officials had made an offer of a salary of about $800,000 a year and a commitment to improve its facilities.
"In 30 years representing athletes, I've never seen the emotional reaction from a state like Hawaii," Steinberg said. "There was a flood of e-mails and calls exhorting him to stay."
It wasn't enough, however, to keep the 54-year-old coach from leaving the cool island breezes for the heat of football-crazy Texas and its fertile recruiting ground.
Jones went 75-41 at Hawaii, including 4-2 in bowls. His teams finished first in the WAC twice and second two other times.
He ended a 12-year stint in the NFL in the late 1990s to take over a Hawaii program coming off an 0-11 season. He took the team to nine wins the following season, the largest turnaround in NCAA history. With a record passing attack in place, the Warriors became a perennial contender in the Western Athletic Conference. They went 12-0 this season before losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
SMU might be a bigger challenge because losing is so entrenched for a program that still hasn't recovered from receiving the NCAA's only death penalty.
