Jones invites Hill to spring practice

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Would the football coach at Southern California invite his counterpart at UCLA to watch spring practices?

Or, would the coach at Stanford allow Cal's head man to drop by for a peek?

Probably not, but University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones said he has invited Pat Hill, whose Fresno State team is the Warriors' chief Western Athletic Conference rival, to drop by during spring practice next month.

"He's coming over on vacation and wanted to have a few beers so, I said, 'Hey, we've got spring practice (then), come on over and watch our practices,' " Jones said yesterday. "I told him, 'I want you to see how we do it.' "

"That was nice of June and I'm looking forward to getting together with him, but I'm not going to be there to take notes," Hill said. "We've got enough film of them already."

Hill said his oldest son, Matt, who is a sophomore safety at Clovis West High School, is interested in Hawai'i. "I don't think he wants to play for me," Hill quipped.

"I don't know if he'll be good enough to play for June," Hill said, "but he loves Hawai'i and it would be a good school for him to go to."

UH spring practice opens March 31 and runs through April 24. There will not be a spring game.

"There aren't a lot of coaches in our league that I socialize with, but I like to get together with June," Hill said. "Whenever Fresno State and Hawai'i play, it is a good, hard-hitting football game. I think there is a lot of mutual respect there."

There was no word if Jones would return the screwdriver that someone in the Bulldog Stadium stands is alleged to have thrown at him during last season's game.