The Jones Extension

[Dooby]

Yea, you read that subject heading right.

We are in a bad spot at a bad moment in time. I, personally, don’t think this team is going to have a winning record. Frankly, I haven’t put the thought into figuring out if a bowl is really possible.

June has one more year left on his deal following the season. Conventional college football thinking is you don’t let a college coach enter the last year of his deal. It chills recruiting, so the theory goes. The theory also goes that the kids won’t play hard for a coach with only one year on his deal because the assumption is he is gone after the season.

It is for reasons such as this that Phil Bennett was extended after going 5-6, which he then went 6-6 and 1-11. Maybe Bennett didn’t deserve an extension (probably didn’t), but that is the way it is done. And financially, these things can be done in such a way that there is little risk to the university. Extend a year or two, reduce the buyout on both sides, maybe a small raise, and everyone is happy.

Why, it is just rare to see a coach reach the expiration of his contract. In fact the last college football coach that I can think of that finished his contract was … June Jones at Hawaii.

I think June desperately wants to leave SMU. Unfortunately, his record hasn’t merited someone giving him a job that pays him better. I am sure he blames SMU for his problems, though SMU fans can certainly list a few reasons why June has only himself to blame.

SMU has 3 options after the season. It can extend June; it can terminate June; or it can see the contract through to the end. Let’s table the last option for a moment because for the reasons above, it really is not a good option.

If SMU elects to terminate June, from the outside looking in, it will appear to be insane. I am big on reasonableness. Firing June will look unreasonable. To an outsider, SMU wandered the college football wilderness until June took over. All June did was go to 4 straight bowls, winning 3 of them. One sub-.500 season after 4 bowls does not merit termination at SMU to an outsider.

Now, I can list the myriad of reasons terminating June is absolutely the right thing to do, if not overdue. He doesn’t want to be here; he doesn’t recruit; the team has plateaued; he doesn’t really do anything to sell the program; he once managed to personally sabotage his own recruiting class in an unprecedented way. Frankly, I think there was enough on the ASU debacle to fire the man with cause, but too much time has passed.

Unfortunately, good reasons to fire June don’t really matter. Like it or not, SMU is not a plum job. It isn’t a bad job. It is just a job. We can list 100 reasons why SMU is a great job, but the truth is so can almost any school, and make no mistake, SMU has warts as well. And since we are not one of the top 25% of college jobs out there, it is important that SMU, at all times, appears to be REASONABLE (there is that word again).

Why is being reasonable important? Because we have to show a coach that SMU is supportive and will give the next coach time to put his system in place and recruit his players. SMU isn’t a good enough school to demand a coach’s head after 1 losing season. I always think of Southern Miss who fired Jeff Bower after 9 straight winning seasons, then hired Larry Fedora (who left after 5 years for UNC) and then fired the next guy after a single season-as an outsider I view So. Miss. as a bunch of friggin’ nuts with unreasonable expectations.

Outsider, by the way, includes any potential future coaching candidate.

So, win, lose or draw, I would be surprised if SMU terminated Jones. Again, I want to stress before I get killed- I will not weep the day June Jones is no longer the coach at SMU.

So, if SMU isn’t going to terminate June, it really has little choice but to extend him. Or, more accurately, try to extend June Jones.

As I said above, it could be relatively painless. As a private university, the contract is confidential and it could be structured in such a way that all sides can be happy, with minimal risk and with options out, but it would still be an extension that would, theoretically, help with recruiting and add some stability to the program.

Frankly, I half expect June to refuse to negotiate an extension. Why? Because he is a jack@$$. June believed he would come to SMU and Dallas would fully embrace him and fill Ford just to be closer to his aura and he is shocked and pissed it didn’t happen. An extension is the smart thing to do, but June doesn’t always do the smart thing. He let his contract at Hawaii expire (as an aside, I am not sure I can put all the Hawaii matters on June, if you have ever done business in Hawaii, it is frustrating as hell and is like working in backwoods Mississippi some times).

BTW, if June does refuse to sign an extension, I would draft up a press release announcing his termination, in no small part because his constant job hunting and refusal to extend his contract left SMU no choice but to terminate him because he was contributing to the instability to the program.

[Stallion]

Well thought out-I doubt SMU fires him at all even with 4-5 wins-I think he himself has checked out and will not be back because he does not look to me like a Coach that is interested in renegotiating his contract. You'd think he'd be doing more than going through the motions if he planned to be back. But in the end you are right we can just buy out his 1 year and he can sit on his [deleted] in a hula skirt all year cashing checks if he wants. Earlier recruiting makes this almost a necessity these days.

[Rebel10]

Suppose he simply retires after the season. That would save face for both sides.

[SoCal_Pony]

under normal circumstances, I would agree with you Dooby, but these are not normal times and quite frankly I don't think we can risk another 1 or 2 years of JJ, regardless of how it 'looks'.

Does that mean his replacement will be better?, who knows, but status quo isn't working and our window to P5 membership is closing.

My solution (and once again, I realize I am not writing the checks) is to hire someone such as Chad Morris and pay for a top-notch aggressive, younger, recruiting-hungry staff. JUtah is right. This can't be a 10-year plan. We need to show improvement pronto.

My hope is that a Top 20 BB program along with a true commitment to FB with actual results might allow us to sneak into the P5. This is all because we are located in Dallas. That is our calling card and we have to give it one last real chance.

[East Coast Mustang]

I think JJ will retire after this season. I had what I thought to be a pretty solid source inside SMU saying he wouldnt be back after last year but that obviously didn't happen.

With that said, I think the next two games will tell us a lot about where we are as a program. If JJ misses a bowl this season he's gotta go regardless of the national perception- and I'm one of his biggest defenders. I frankly think he needs to win 8 to justify another season here in 2014

[couch 'em]

I think it is known to both sides he retires after this year. He is fully checked out as proven buy the Mumme hire

[JasonB]

Do we know for sure how long the contracts for the staff are good until?

[Mustangsabu]

I have a strong gut feeling, and it makes sense to me, that June is going to step down at the end of the season regardless of success or failure. I think the initial post sets the realities out very well, I just think this will all happen quietly. It is the SMU way...

[RebStang]

Suppose he simply retires after the season. That would save face for both sides.

That would be our best possible outcome. SMU would probably get negative publicity for firing Jones (three bowl games, 25 years without a bowl, blah, blah, blah) but Jones simply stepping aside into retirement would allow SMU to make a change without having to fire him.

The really unfortunate thing is that I think Jones could do great things at SMU if he was just willing to put the work into recruiting. Maybe he needs to hire Chris Kiffin as his defensive and recruiting coordinator (No, seriously... do not do that, SMU).

[jpe747]

I really think it depends on how SMU does this year on the field. The people who pay his salary may want him back if he goes to a bowl.

Perhaps there are other ways...like making him a dean or something if he retires.

Actually, I think the biggest problem everyone has is recruiting. As I have stated before, I don't think recruiting four and five star players to SMU football is as easy as some on this board think. Actually, with our mindset they loose a lot coming here. For one thing, we don't cheat (at least I don't think we do) and I feel confident most all large schools do. That being said, I wish we heard more positive things about SMU coaches getting in touch with high school players and staying in touch; contacting known four and five star players, etc. Our coaches are either very secretive about their contacts or they just aren't getting out to see the coaches and players they need to see.

Nonetheless, I hope we move forward as quickly as possible to a national football power.

[Dooby]

What makes anyone think June is going to voluntarily leave $2M on the table?

June will force SMU's hand. He won't retire.

[davidpaul123]

What makes anyone think June is going to voluntarily leave $2M on the table?

June will force SMU's hand. He won't retire.

With the end game being June headed out of town the best choices are:
1) he retires (possible but unlikely based on the $$ on the table)
2) we pay him to retire (he gets his $$ and you don't have the perception he was fired)
3) we actually fire him (we save $2m but perception of his firing may be an issue)

[mrydel]

Good post Dooby. You stay away too long.

[couch 'em]

I don't think recruiting four and five star players to SMU football is as easy as some on this board think. Actually, with our mindset they loose a lot coming here. For one thing, we don't cheat (at least I don't think we do) and I feel confident most all large schools do. That being said, I wish we heard more positive things about SMU coaches getting in touch with high school players and staying in touch; contacting known four and five star players, etc. O

Not sure how many times this has to be addressed. The problem is not that we aren't getting enough 4 or 5 star players. The problem is we aren't even recruiting on the level of midrange nobody schools. We are fighting for the very bottom players against schools like UNT, UTSA, SHSU, etc. I wish we could step up and compete with Rice and Tulsa.

[Rebel10]

What makes anyone think June is going to voluntarily leave $2M on the table?

June will force SMU's hand. He won't retire.

There could be a settlement involved so he could still get some money.