JJ said that he left UH because he got tired of fighting for better facilities

PT = Portland Tribune


About how the 2006 team was the best team that he had at UH, JJ said:
"The first year was my best team at Hawaii. We lost on the last play in all three of those losses. I think about that all the time. Had we won those three, we'd have had back-to-back undefeated (regular) seasons." (PT)


PT Note: "Jones said he left Hawaii primarily because he grew tired battling for better facilities."


About his frustration with the battle to improve their facilities, JJ said:
"It was frustrating. I love Hawaii. I'll go back there and live some day. But I was burned out from fighting through everything. I knew it was going to be hard to get things changed, but I thought after nine years with the winning we'd had, some of those decisions would have been made. We needed a new practice field, new locker rooms, new offices. I was still coaching in the office Dick Tomey had used in 1977." (PT)


PT Note: "Jones-to-Southern Methodist was in the works even before the Sugar Bowl. Nearly a month earlier, Jones had called Eric Dickerson – a former SMU great and a close friend – to inquire about the job."


About how he told SMU that he would take their job if they didn't leak the news to the media, JJ said:
"The job had been open since October, and this was Dec. 8. I told Eric, 'If that job is offered to me, I'll take it. But if my name is mentioned in the media at any time before the Sugar Bowl, I'm not going to take it. I can't do that to my players. They've waited forever for this opportunity. I don't want to ruin that for those kids.'  I'll be damned, how in the heck could (SMU officials) keep it quiet for that long? But they did, and that told me these guys have some character. They got ridiculed by the media for waiting so long to hire a coach, but they stood firm." (PT)

http://portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=128348266539521400