June Jones signed to Extension by SMU

Before last season, Southern Methodist University was one of the laughing stocks of NCAA Division I football.  But the arrival of head coach June Jones sparked the best turnaround in the NCAA last year. 

SMU went from a 1-11 record in 2008, to an 8-5 record in 2009.  Perhaps more importantly though, SMU went to its first bowl game since 1984 where they defeated Nevada 45-10 in the Hawaii Bowl.

Both the Southern Methodist fans and athletic director Steve Orinski were extremely pleased with last year’s results as well as Jones’ coaching.  So SMU decided to lock Jones up until 2014 by giving him a two-year extension on his current deal.

After the extension, Orinski told reporters, “Coach Jones has brought a winning culture to our football program, and under his leadership, I know he will soon exceed my goal for the football program here at SMU….and that is to be a perennial top 25 team,” Orsini finished by saying, “He has more than earned this extension, and we are so happy to have June Jones here on the Hilltop.”

Jones was also excited to sign the extension as he said, “I love the area here.  I've met some of the nicest people at SMU and in the area. Everything a person needs is here.”  June also added, “It's a four or five-year plan to get where we’re competitive in every game we play, and I still think that's the case.  We won some games last year and what I think happened is we gained confidence and won more games.  That doesn't mean we were better than some of those teams we beat, but we were able to get it done.”

Besides bringing a winning culture to SMU, Jones also tweaked his own game plan to better fit Southern Methodist’s personnel.  Much like a no-limit hold’em player choosing to move to limit texas holdem, Jones toned down his usual pass-happy attack to include more of a ground game.

It’s still up in the air as to what offensive style SMU will use this season, but it should be clearer after SMU’s season opener against Texas Tech on September 5th.