UH Warriors can be 'top-15 team,' Jones says

By Stephen Tsai and Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writers

With his milestone contract out of the way and the season fast approaching, University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones says the Warriors have the potential to be a "top-15 team" this year.

"I'm really pumped that we are kinda where we are athletically," Jones told newspaper and television reporters during a recent 90-minute lunch in Manoa. "We have some good players (and) now it is my job to do the kind of things that you have to do to win on the road to become a competitive team. We have the schedule that, if we win the right games, to be a top-15 team.

"When I say the right games," he added, "that means you've got to beat Alabama. You've got to beat USC. Then, along the way, take care of business. Can we do that? Yeah, I think we have the potential to do that. Will we do that? You don't know until you play each game."

Jones, 50, said he discussed a wish list of opponents with UH athletic director Herman Frazier.

The list included Florida, Michigan, Texas and Oklahoma. Jones said some teams were available for as early as 2005 and others not until "2007, 2008."

During the lunch, Jones touched on a variety of subjects.

• On future schedules:

"I don't think UCLA will come here, but I circled the teams that I'd play and they were one of them — and I didn't care if it was up there or here. Florida, Oklahoma, Texas ... some of them don't have road games available and some of them did. Oklahoma only had home games available, but I said I'd go there. Florida only had home games. I said I'd go there. Miami actually had home and road (games) available down the line and I circled both. Washington was another team I circled, and there were some (other) Pac-10 teams."

• Feedback on his contract:

It has been " 'congratulations' pretty much everywhere I've walked."

• On new pressure:

"I don't understand why it would be different. Why would it be? It is the same job. Selling out the stadium? How do I control that? If we don't have pay-per-view, we sell out the stadium. In fact, combine the number of tickets we sell and the number of homes with pay-per-view and it is (the equivalent of) a sellout every game. Nobody else has had to compete with all of that."

• On donors who contributed to his contract:

"I don't know who they are. I know, kind of, who the guys in the community who (have) said, 'We want you here.' But I don't know for sure who donated the money. I think eventually I will know. But I don't think it's important that I do."

• On increasing financial commitment to the football program:

"You get what you pay for, basically. If you want to be big time, there are some costs involved. Now, are we stepping up to where the big boys are — (U)SC, Ohio State, Michigan? No, we're not. But we've stepped into another step for us, and someday if you want to be in that level, you'd better step up to the plate and say, 'That's where we want to be. We need some new dorms, we need this, we need that.' You make those decisions and you do it."

• On opening the season against Division I-AA Appalachian State:

"If Appalachian State was in the WAC, (it) would be the equivalent ... of Fresno and Boise State. They do everything. Defensively, they have more athletes than maybe everybody we play within the conference. They have a corner, just looking at the tape, who's a 4.3 guy (in the 40-yard dash), you know. The linebackers run like — whoomp! — they jump off the film."

• And yet ...:

"I wanted to schedule Michigan or Ohio State, but we couldn't get them. Iowa State was a different scenario. It was going to be a different day, Thursday or something. There was something about it we didn't want to do. They wanted some guarantees, too."

• On the new FieldTurf at Aloha Stadium:

"I went down to the stadium and the turf is unbelievable. I think every high schooler will thank me and thank the NFL for getting that thing done once they see it. It is unreal."

• On his health following his car crash two years ago:

"I'm still hurting. My legs are working about 70 percent of where I was before. I still ache in the morning. Some days I get up and I think I'm having a heart attack."

• On living in Hawai'i at least another five years:

"I always felt this is where I wanted to be. I remember making those statements 25 years ago, that I would like to be a coach here. I never had any other thoughts about going anywhere else. ... At some point, I'm going to get to a point where I don't want to do this anymore. I'm sure that will happen. Right now, I can't think of anything better than seeing Timmy (Chang, the starting quarterback) through his couple of years here and doing what I think we can do for the next three to five years."