Jones leaves Hawaii to take over at SMU

Staying at Hawaii would have been the easy choice for June Jones. It was the challenge of rebuilding a tattered football program that led him to take the coaching job at Southern Methodist, which stumbled to a 1-11 record this season.

"Where you are now excites me because the only way is up, and I am good at going up," Jones said Monday.

The introduction of Jones at a booster-packed press conference ended the nation's longest college coaching search this year. It had been 70 days since Phil Bennett was dismissed with four games left in the season.

School officials hope Jones can bring some of Hawaii's run-and-shoot magic, which produced 43 points per game, an undefeated regular season and a BCS bowl berth this year. They were also impressed by Jones' ability to resuscitate Hawaii, which went 0-12 before he arrived in 1999 and won nine games.

Jones' decision to leave Hawaii came after an extraordinary bidding war that even involved the governor of Hawaii.

Leigh Steinberg, Jones' agent, said the coach accepted a five-year deal worth about $2 million per year. He said Hawaii offered about $1.6 million per year.

"In 30 years representing athletes, I've never seen the emotional reaction from a state like Hawaii," Steinberg said. "There was a flood of e-mails and calls exhorting him to stay."

Besides more money, Jones will be in the middle of the rich Texas recruiting base, and he'll get better facilities. SMU recently built a new brick-faced stadium and a modern training center.

"There's absolutely no comparison," Jones said. At Hawaii, "the office that I sat in was the same office that Dick Tomey used in 1986. The carpet was the same ... You're talking about the NFL and a Pop Warner team."

A handful of SMU players met Jones after Monday's news conference. The coach said he had watched tape of some SMU games and the Mustangs were "close to turning the corner." But he declined to predict how many games they'll win next season.

Jones would have faced a rebuilding process even had he stayed at Hawaii. The Warriors, who suffered a 41-10 thrashing by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, will lose quarterback Colt Brennan, who finished third in the Heisman voting, and leading receiver Davone Bess, who is skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

NIU's Kill adds his SIU aides: New Northern Illinois football coach Jerry Kill has raided the program at Southern Illinois to round out his coaching staff.

NIU says eight members of Kill's former staff at SIU will be joining him in DeKalb, including defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover.

The assistant coaches joining Kill at NIU were with him during his seven years in Carbondale. During Kill's tenure, the Salukis made five trips to the playoffs and earned a spot in the national semifinals in 2007.