Chang 'knew something was wrong'

With spring football workouts starting soon, Hawai‘i coaches and players were going about their usual business when word spread that coach June Jones was involved in a car accident yesterday.

Quarterback Tim Chang was watching video with quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison when another coach came into the room to speak to Morrison.

"I saw they had this serious look on their faces," Chang said. "I knew something was wrong."

Defensive secondary coach Rich Miano was in a defensive staff meeting when the news arrived.

"Everyone was like, ‘What? Car accident? How bad is he? Where’s he going? What hospital?’ " Miano said. "Things just go through your mind."

Miano said the coaches went to The Queen’s Medical Center, where all they could do was wait.

And pray.

"Initially, you don’t want to think the worst and pray for the best," Miano said. "We couldn’t wait to get to the hospital to see if he was OK."

When the players heard of the accident, a number went down to Queen’s, too, Miano said.

"The first report we got was that they were more concerned with the internal bleeding," Miano said. "It was a matter of controlling the bleeding, but that could be life-and death-threatening, so we sat there in silence until (Jones’) family showed up."

Miano said the next report was about a CAT scan and angiogram that had gone well.

"Everything was looking more and more positive," Miano said. "You could see that on the family members’ faces. God willing, Coach Jones will be back to help us get back to where we need to be."

With Jones’ condition still on their minds, several players, including Chang, worked out a Cooke Field. But they were finding it hard to concentrate.

"I’m just going to practice throwing and try to get my mind off it," Chang said, "but it’s going to be hard."

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