This past Valentine's Day, University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones questioned his heart.

A personal problem led Jones, a self-styled optimist, into despair, and soon he struggled to find peace, even in football.

"I had some things happen to me that kind of changed some things," he recalled. "When you have personal things like that happen, it starts to weigh on you heavy."

He even wondered if he would fulfill the final three years of a contract that runs through the 2007 season.

"I'm not going to lie to you," he said, "that did cross my mind."

But Jones, as he often does, rallied.

"Hey, I'm a survivor," he said. "I've been that way since I played here" in the early 1970s.

Rekindling a friendship by hiring his mentor, former National Football League head coach Jerry Glanville, as the Warriors' defensive coordinator, Jones said his spirits have brightened. His renewed outlook is found in his new look. He lost 28 pounds through the Atkins Diet, and shaved his trademark mustache.

Happy? "Yeah, I love my job and my players," he said. "This time of year is hard for me. I wish we started (training camp) a month ago. I miss being around the locker room, going on the field, talking to the kids, trying to teach them, trying to mold them. That kind of stuff I look forward to. And then the games. I can't wait until the games, game day, you know."

In a wide-ranging, two-hour lunch with television and newspaper reporters, Jones spoke of Glanville's impact, why Tyler Graunke enters next month's training camp as the No. 1 quarterback, the Warriors' approach to local recruiting, and why he took a razor to a 32-year grudge.

On hiring Glanville:

"He was hired because I had a position available (after Mike Cavanaugh resigned as offensive line coach). I was trying to hire an offensive guy and that didn't work out. When it didn't work out, I knew I could juggle offensively, and we were going to have success regardless. I've got good coaches. All of the guys are good guys. They all know it. We'll get it done. The opportunity to hire somebody, I mean, of Jerry's caliber, that doesn't happen. You kidding me? I mean, when has there been two NFL head coaches on the same staff? I don't know if that's happened."

On reassigning last season's defensive coordinators, George Lumpkin and Rich Miano:

"I was honest with them the whole way. I told them they're going to learn more than they ever learned in their life in the next three months. I've seen Jerry do it. I'm sure if you ask them, they'll probably echo that, too. And they're all team players. George, the only thing he said to me was, 'If it's going to make us better, let's do it.' I talked to him about it before I did it."

On how long Glanville will remain at UH:

"As long as I'm here, he'll be here, probably, unless he gets another NFL head job. ... History has (shown) that when people aren't from Hawai'i, and they come to Hawai'i, they leave. They don't have reasons to be here. Jerry's only reason to be here right now is me, OK? That could change if he gets a head job offer, which he could very well get. But I don't think he'll go for another (college) coordinator's job anymore."

On how long Jones will remain at UH:

"I plan on getting out before we play Florida (in 2007). No, I'm hoping to be here as long as it's fun. When it stops being fun, I won't be here. It was really close to stop being fun (in February). ... I'm going to coach this year and make that decision as we go. A lot can change, a lot can happen. But I'm hoping that I can fulfill my contract that I have here."

On the competition between Graunke and Colt Brennan, a junior-college transfer, to succeed quarterback Tim Chang:

"If we started today, I think Tyler Graunke would be, because he's been here for a year. Why? He's the best player. He's the best passer. He can play. You've got to understand something. I've been around quarterbacks my whole life. It's not hard to pick out the ones who can play. No different with Tyler.

"Colt Brennan is a Tyler Graunke who\'s 6 (feet) 3. He just hasn\'t been here. When you ask me who the quarterback is going to be, well Tyler is going to be the quarterback because I know if I switch (plays) right now, he knows what to do. I don\'t know if Colt knows that because I haven\'t had him. Will he know that by the time we (play Southern California in the opener)? Yeah, he will. So guess what? I\'m going to have two guys who can play. I\'ll probably play both in the first couple of games, and if one of them really gets on a roll and hot, then maybe the other guy won\'t get in. But both of them will probably play and then I\'m going to decide who\'s going to be the guy the rest of the way."

On giving a chance to Brennan, who is on probation after being found guilty of criminal trespass and burglary:

"All of the kids I\'ve taken second chances on are all good kids. I have skeletons in my closet, just like you do. In life, it\'s how you come back on those second chances. It\'s what determines the person you are. The opportunity to do that with Pisa (Tinoisamoa), to do that with Davone (Bess), to do that with West Keli\'ikipi, to do that with Colt ... it molds them into who they are. How they respond with the second chance is going to define them as people. I was fortunate I was lucky enough to have that kind of opportunity. I came back from a lot of things I\'m not proud of. I changed who I was. These kids have changed who they are. All of them. Colt has to prove it.

Looking at his family, looking at everything, I think he has it in him to be that type of kid. He\'s got to do it for three years. I would be totally shocked if he has another problem."

On recruiting Kahuku High players, whom he accused of being steered to other colleges by the Red Raider coaches during a February news conference:

"I think we\'ve had great success with every Kahuku kid who has come to us. I can\'t tell you about how I feel about Hyrum Peters, Tala (Esera), Leonard (Peters), Kala (Latuselu). I can go right on down the road. I feel I\'m lucky they came in to play for us. ... We\'ll take any kid who wants to come from Kahuku."

On Mainland schools offering making early scholarship offers to local prospects:

"The bottom line is you never know until Feb. 5 (starting of the signing period). Somebody can say they have a scholarship right now, and it\'s reported they have scholarships, but until you see them sign on Feb. 5, you don\'t know.

"We know every one of those (prospects). If a kid wants to go away, he\'s going away. That\'s the deal. If he wants to stay home, he\'ll stay home. There are a few who might be on the fence, that you\'ve got to talk them into it in the last week, before February, but you\'re not talking them into it right now, I can tell you that. Plus, a whole lot of things can change on these kids and they don\'t realize it. They may be offered a scholarship — or not be offered a scholarship but think they are — and they may find out in mid-December that the school reneges on it."

On why UH usually waits until mid-January to offer scholarships:

"That\'s the way we\'ve got to do it. Local kids we know. We\'re on top of it. They know they\'re going to get scholarships. I mean, we tell them. But we don\'t want to offer until usually the middle of January. We\'ve offered a few kids already only because they fit our m.o. on the Mainland. They have family here or are sons of people who played here. For the first time we\'ve offered some kids, probably three or four. But they\'re not going to accept now. If they\'re going to accept, they\'re going to accept the last week or on Feb. 5. Nobody is going to commit to Hawai\'i early. They want to take trips. If UCLA or USC is recruiting them, they\'re going to maximize that deal. If they commit to us, they don\'t get to go on those trips. It\'s a waste of time. Do we know who the guys are who we\'re going to offer? Yep, we know. We\'ve got a list on the board."

On the uniform scheme this season:

"At home: black. On the road: silver. Silver pants and white tops. Nike kind of came up with a nice design on the silver sleeve on top. It looked pretty good, I thought, but it was only on a computer printout."

On the reason behind the change:

I didn\'t like our road uniform and saw the (new) color scheme opens up a whole new (avenue) for you to sell. Which we are selling very well, by the way.

On the possibility of not receiving a bowl berth if the Warriors were to finish third or lower in the Western Athletic Conference:

"I voiced that at the coaches meeting a few weeks back. My opinion on that is that the rule (a WAC rule guaranteeing the top two teams in the standings bowl berths) needs to be changed otherwise there won\'t be a (Sheraton Hawai\'i) bowl. If we\'re bowl-eligible and not playing in our own bowl there may not be a bowl the next year. We already found that out (with the Aloha and O'ahu) bowls.

On opening the season against defending national champion USC and Michigan State:

"We have the potential, because of the quality of the opponents we\'re playing in non-conference, to be one of the top teams in the country. It is an opportunity which we never would have had before. But you can still lose your non-conference games, win the conference and still be pretty respectable. But because of the level we are playing at, when has the University of Hawai\'i ever had the opportunity to be the No. 1 team in the country? Ever? As good as Boise was last year, (it was) ranked, what, 13th or 12th? This year they are playing (at) Georgia and Oregon State and if they run the table, guess what, they are going to be a top-5 team because of the level of opponents in their non-conference games."

On the Warriors\' ranking if they were to upset USC?

Eighteenth. Even if you beat USC, you have to run the table to get respect. That\'s what we are faced with.

On shaving his mustache:

"I just woke up one morning and decided to shave. ... The reason I grew it (in 1973) was I was here two years, and I knew I wasn\'t going to play. We came to the team picture one day, and Larry (Price, UH\'s head coach) brought razors and made all of the guys shave. I said, \'I\'m not going to play anyway. I think I\'ll grow it.\' So I grew it. I was kind of a rebel.