WAC Football & Basketball blog

To get you caught up on where things are now with the Hawaii program, here’s a quick recap.

The Warriors, who were going to lose their star QB and one of their three 1,000 yard receivers in the graduating Jason Rivers, lost the other two 1,000 yard receivers as well, as Davone Bess, then Ryan Grice-Mullen both decided to skip their senior seasons and enter the NFL Draft.

In the midst of it all, the man who led Hawaii’s move into prominence, decided that he’d had enough, and decided to take on another rebuilding project, as head coach June Jones resigned and took the head coaching position at SMU.

And, to top it off, after Jones’ resignation, athletic director Herman Frazier, was shown the door, as he was viewed as partly responsible for the lack of commitment and administrative issues that led to Jones’ disillusionment and decision to step down.

Things went from bad to tragic when red shirt freshman receiver Mitch Farney, who was planning to transfer to Weber State, died Tuesday night after collapsing during a pickup basketball game in Phoenix.

The New Year hasn’t been kind to the Hawaii football program, but there’s still 11 and a half months to go, so it can only go up from here.

Colt Brennan and the Warriors took a lot of hits in Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl.

In the past couple of days, the program has taken some pretty big hits off of the field.

On Friday, junior receiver Davone Bess, a three-year starter and Hawaii’s career leader in catches (293) and touchdowns (41), announced that he’ll be skipping his senior season and declaring for the NFL draft, after draft evaluators gave him a second-round grade.

Ryan Grice-Mullen, who will likely break Bess’ reception and touchdown marks next season, and along with those, surpass the other triplet, Jason Rivers, in career receiving yards, will not only have a new QB throwing it to him, with Brennan departing, but will have a new head coach as well.

June Jones, who built the Warriors’ program into a winner over the last several years, is resigning from his post due to a lack of commitment from the athletic department, and frustrations about how the athletic department was run, according to reports.

Jones took over at Hawaii following the 1998 season, when the Warriors went 0-12. He instantly turned the program around, as 1999 saw a 9-3 season, a tie for the WAC title, and a win in the Oahu Bowl.

In nine seasons, Jones went 75-41, led Hawaii to six bowls (four wins), and two WAC titles, including the Warriors’ first-ever outright conference title this season, when they went 12-1, were ranked in the top 10, and advanced to the Sugar Bowl, a 41-10 loss to Georgia in what turned out to be Jones’ last game with Hawaii.

His next destination appears to be SMU, as the school has reportedly offered him more than twice his salary at Hawaii to become their new head coach.

And, if his rebuilding job in Dallas is anywhere near as successful as it was on the island, SMU fans should be looking forward to the future.

As for Hawaii, well, if Jones did leave because of issues with the athletic department (turns out Colt Brennan wasn’t so wrong after all, eh?), then you know what they say…’you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.’