Warriors out to prove that 9-3 is no fluke
| • | Ferd Lewis: Jones has no problem finding motivation |
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The rebuilding project began at the start of the football offseason. Although the work has produced impressive results, the project is not close to being completed — at least not in the opinion of the finicky designer, University of Hawai'i coach June Jones.
Advertiser library photo • Oct. 6, 2001
After a 90-minute lunch with television and newspaper reporters Saturday, Jones showed them the renovations made to his Harley. He had fine-tuned the 1500cc engine, installed chrome spokes to both wheels, and painted the motorcycle in the Warriors' black and green, with the school's "H" logo replacing the Harley emblem.
UH coach June Jones said he is more committed than ever to prove the football team's success is not a "flash in the pan."
Still, Jones is not satisfied, and now he wants to reconfigure the motorcycle's lettering, lengthen the kapa design on the side panels, and so on and so forth. This restless tinkering, in which Jones treats perfection as a rainbow's end, carries over into his coaching and his players.
In particular, the Warriors — who open training camp today with newcomers reporting for meetings and medical tests — remember the fall of 2000. After going 9-4, including a victory in the O'ahu Bowl in 1999, Jones' first year as UH head coach, the Warriors dropped to 3-9 in 2000.
After the 1999 season, Jones recalled, the players did not work as hard during offseason training, figuring winning "would happen again the next year."
Following last year's 9-3 season, "we worked extremely hard ... because of what happened in 2000. Half of the team (from 2000) is here. Half the team remembers what happened."
Jones estimated 90 percent of his players participated in unsupervised workouts this summer. Those players worked out "at 6:30 or 7 in the morning, then again at 3:30," Jones said. "They learned from their mistakes after the '99 season. The key guys, the leaders, were on that team. They don't want to take that step back again. They understand we have a very difficult schedule. Right off the bat we have to do it."
Jones has praised this year's recruiting class, even though as many as four of the prospects might not be on the 2002 roster. Failing to meet the NCAA requirement to play this fall are defensive end Mel Purcell Jr. of Leone High in American Samoa, defensive tackle Darrell Tautofi, a Kaimuki High graduate, and offensive lineman Kalavi Blanchard of Kahuku High.
The NCAA Clearinghouse is reviewing the eligibility of defensive back A.J. Martinez, a recent graduate of Edison High in Huntington Beach, Calif. Martinez is not allowed to attend meetings or practices until the NCAA rules on his case.
Still, Jones said he is more enthused about the coming season than his previous three as head coach.
"The majority of these kids ... I brought in," he said, noting his staff recruited 19 of the 25 players listed on the two-deep chart.
Of the six holdovers, five did not play in a game for Jones' predecessor, Fred vonAppen, who was fired two days after the end of the 1998 season.
"We've got a special bond between coaches and players, and players and players," Jones said. "To me, as a coach, that's what wins for you. You can be as good as you want to be, but if you don't have those intangibles, you're not going to win."
Jones said a strong season is necessary because "I don't think anybody really thinks we can build and stay. Nobody has ever seen the program here as a perennial success."
