June Jones Dies at 73, Legendary Hawaii Coach Heralded as College Football 'Innovator'

Legendary Hawai'i football coach June Jones, known as an early promoter of the run and shoot offense, has died at age 73.

Hawai'i announced Jones' passing while crediting him as "a leader, coach, mentor and innovator who helped bring Hawai'i Football to unprecedented heights."

"I know a lot of people around our football community that he really impacted, just with his words, his kindness, his love," Hawai'i head coach Timmy Chang told reporters Thursday.

The Atlanta Falcons, for whom Jones both played and coached, honored Jones as "a visionary in the passing game."

"Coach Jones will be remembered with gratitude for his contributions to our organization and the lasting impact he made on those he coached and mentored," the Falcons wrote.

Jones' death was also mourned by the coaching certification program designed by Jones and Mouse Davis.

Former Kentucky coach Hal Mumme told The Athletic's Bruce Feldman Jones had entered hospice care earlier this month after doctors had discovered a tumor while treating him for back pain.

"When he was coaching in the USFL and then NFL in the '80s, nobody was throwing the football like that," Mumme told Feldman. "Our little club of people that really threw the football was very small. You could name us on one hand all the way from high school to the NFL, and June was the leader of it.

"Everybody wanted to know what June was doing, and how he was doing it. He was a pioneer."

Jones, a native of Portland, Oregon, played college football for Oregon, Hawai'i and Portland State. He competed in five seasons with the Falcons and one CFL campaign before launching his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Hawai'i in 1983.

After multiple coaching stints in the NFL, including three seasons as head coach of the Falcons and an interim term leading the San Diego Chargers, Jones returned to the NCAA to take over as head coach at Hawai'i in 1999.

He went on to lead the team to what was at the time the greatest single-season turnaround in NCAA history by helping Hawai'i go from winless in 1998 to 9-4 in 1999 while capturing a bowl game victory over Oregon State.

Hawai'i went 12-0 in 2007 during Jones' final season with the program, which was capped off by an invitation to the Sugar Bowl. Jones left having coached Hawai'i teams led by quarterbacks Chang and Colt Brennan to a 76-41 record in nine years at the helm.

He later amassed a 36-43 record in parts of seven seasons at SMU, which he helped lead back to bowl game contention for the first time in 25 years, before he resigned in 2014.

While turning down an opportunity to return to Hawai'i in 2022, Jones went on to coach in the CFL, XFL and The Spring League to cap off his four-decade coaching career.