Hawaii has found itself in a very awkward public spat with June Jones over his possible return as football coach, and the school escalated things further on Saturday.
Hawaii spokesman Dan Meisenzahl offered a set of odd and somewhat incendiary comments in a press conference Saturday about Jones’ public statements about the Hawaii job. Meisenzahl praised Jones as the best coach in school history, but said that Jones had “too much power” in his first stint at the school. The spokesperson also said Jones showed “zero integrity” throughout the current process.
Hawaii school spokesperson Dan Meisenzahl is speaking on a Zoom press conference about June Jones.
He calls Jones the greatest coach in school history but says had too much power at UH before leaving for SMU, worked as his own AD. (Hence admin setting parameters in offer)
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 22, 2022
Meisenzahl says Jones walked out of the negotiations yesterday after 30 minutes and has been speaking to the media too much in this process.
“Jones showed zero integrity for this process."
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 22, 2022
When asked if Jones was still a candidate for the job, Meisenzahl deferred and simply said the job remained open.
Jones said he’s still interested in the Hawaii job.
Asked if that door is still open, Meisenzahl says, “The job is still open. Time is of the essence. We’re moving forward. The job has not been filled yet.”
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 22, 2022
On Friday, Jones confirmed he had received an offer from Hawaii and was interested, but that “no coach in their right mind” would accept the terms offered to him. Hawaii clearly felt the need to keep Jones’ remarks from going unchallenged publicly, resulting in this rather extraordinary series of statements.
Jones getting the job seems far-fetched now. This is a lot of bad blood to spill publicly if these two sides are really expecting to be able to work with each other.
Photo: Feb 8, 2020; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Roughnecks head coach June Jones reacts after a play during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Wildcats in a XFL football game at TDECU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
