If June Jones has anything to say about it, he’ll prove that you can indeed go home to the islands again.
Monday, Hawaii confirmed that Norm Chow was out as the Rainbow Warriors’ head coach three-quarters of the way through his fourth season at the school. Offensive line coach Chris Naeole was named interim head coach for the final three games, and the Hawaii native will be given consideration for the full-time job.
Naeole will very likely have to compete with Jones for the position, however, as the coach confirmed to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he is interested in and will apply for the job. That’s all he’s willing to say at the moment, however, out of respect for Naeole.
“I don’t want to comment further at this time because the attention should stay on the team now,” Jones told the Star-Advertiser, “and hopefully Chris can lead them to some wins down the stretch.”
The 62-year-old Jones, of course, was the head coach at Hawaii for nearly a decade and led the Rainbow Warriors to its winningest stretch in the program’s history.
From 1999-2007, UH went 76-41 under Jones. Prior to Jones’ arrival, the Rainbow Warriors won nine or more games four times and 10-plus once the previous 28 years; in Jones’ nine seasons, they won nine-plus six times and 10-plus in three seasons. The pinnacle of his career at the island school was his last season as he led UH to a 12-1 record and a Sugar Bowl appearance in 2007.
He left for SMU in January of the following year and went 36-43 with the Mustangs before abruptly resigning two games into his seventh season at the school in 2014.