Jones Apparently Headed to Arizona State
It looks like the June Jones era at SMU is drawing to close. Several sources are reporting that Jones will take over at Arizona State, which fired Dennis Erickson last week after five seasons.
Jones has led SMU to three straight bowl games, including the BBVA Compass Bowl in which the Ponies will take on Pittsburgh on Jan. 7 in Birmingham, Ala.
Fan support has been pretty apathetic and he’s leaving for a much stronger program in a much stronger conference with better support and revenues. But, the last two seasons have been somewhat disappointing. He certainly never got the program to the next level as he was expected to do.
Actually, reports are starting to filter in that ASU is getting lots of backlash from boosters and may withdraw its offer.
Never got to the next level!? You mean going to bowl games after being without football is not the next level? Sounds like a quantum leap to me yet support is indeed apathetic. Spoiled by years of corruption.
“Never got to the next level!?” Like I said, he never got the program to the next level in the last 2 seasons. After going 8-5 and winning their bowl game in 2009, they went a very disappointing 7-7 last year (including a home bowl game loss as a heavy favorie over Army). This year, they started off 5-1 including a win over TCU. They lost 4 of their last 6 games and lost a ton of fan momentum (there had to be less than 5k people in the stands for that last game against Rice).
Of the last 3 seasons, it’s pretty clear that 2009 was the best one. That is pretty straightforward that Jones didn’t take them to the next level in 2010 or 2011. And this is with his recruits, too.
Like I said, the only bowl games they’ve been to since the death penalty were the teams coached by Jones. Seems like the next level to me. If Jones does the same thing at (enter name of downtrodden football program here), he’s hailed as the next coming.