Jan. 7, 2008
SMU President R. Gerald Turner
"Obviously, football is an important part of SMU's past, and we certainly intend for it to be an important part of SMU's future. It's important for Dallas to have SMU, as the only Bowl Division team in the city, to have a successful team, and we're here today to introduce the man who is going to lead us toward that goal."
SMU Director of Athletics Steve Orsini
"As you have known since the day I was introduced about 18 months ago, we established a standard of developing a top-25 program. The goal was to aim high and I'm proud to add another national coach of the year to our stable at SMU."
When this process began, I described the criteria I wanted in a coach:
1. A proven winner; 2. A successful recruiter, someone who can be a salesman for this university; 3. A leader of young men; 4. A desire to be at SMU.
June Jones fits all of those. The timeline for this process, as I said before, was dictated by the quality of candidate we were after. One thing he said to me really stuck with me. He said, `Steve, I excel at building programs.' That sold me."
SMU Head Coach June Jones
"It was a difficult decision. But the commitment made by this university, the groundwork laid by my predecessors, the facilities - everything we need to be successful is here. When I met with President Turner and Steve Orsini and the rest of the search committee, I saw the commitment from all of them to get back to the highest level of competition. If everyone's not on the same page, you're beat before you kick off. It's clear that everyone at SMU is on the same page. Everyone has that hunger.
I'm excited to play my style of football here. I'm excited about the coaches who are willing to come here and be a part of this. When I got to Hawaii, they had lost 18 straight games. If I had said then that I thought we'd have the biggest turnaround in the history of college football, I would have been lying. But it's a system that works, and the faster I can get with the kids and get them believing, the faster we'll improve.
The state of Texas excites me in terms of what we can do. My entire starting secondary (at Hawai'i) was from Texas. I do things a little different than a lot of Texas coaches, but I get things done and we win games.
I'm not in a panic (over immediately hiring a staff). I got a commitment from a number of coaches who want to come here. I've talked to coaches who are interested in coming here, and it's important to have some guys who have Texas ties.
I've had a lot of experience with a lot of good quarterbacks, not just Colt (Brennan) - guys like Warren Moon, Jim Kelly ... those guys played for me, and now they're Hall of Famers. Certianly, one of the strengths of the staff, and myself, is identifying who those individuals are. What's exciting is that when you develop a reputation, kids (recruits) start calling you, sending you tape.
It's not easy to recruit to Hawai'i. If a mom and dad saw their kid play high school football, we were 0-for-2,000 on those kids. Because of the budget, we couldn't even go see a lot of those kids. At SMU, we'll be more hands-on, even before we get on a plane to go see kids.
Polynesians, per capita, have more players in the NFL than any other group. The football academy we have in American Samoa produces players who go everywhere in the country. There's no reason why they can't come to Dallas.
(About Signing Day) I really feel like we have a plan. We're not in a rush. We got some of our best players after `letter-of-intent' day, so we'll be patient."
