June Jones continues mentorship, friendship with Chang

On Sunday morning, University of Hawaii football coach Timmy Chang brought coffee, doughnuts and an open mind to the program’s conference room.

Then for the next five hours, three generations of offensive theorists — former UH head coach June Jones, analyst Cade Socha and Chang — probed and discussed the Rainbow Warriors’ run-and-shoot attack. They studied four hours of video of games from the 2004 through 2007 seasons, when the Warriors’ offense was most productive under Jones and directed by Chang and Heisman Trophy finalist Colt Brennan.

“It was like old times,” said Jones, who is expected to volunteer as a consultant to Chang this season. “We actually watched film from way back when. He’s done that so many times with me. It was good to re-communicate everything. It confirmed validity for Timmy that what he’s doing is good.”

Entering his third season as head coach, Chang is fully invested in a four-wide offense that he has run since his freshman year at Saint Louis School. While there are tweaks to the original blueprint — a tight end often is used as one of the slots — Chang has tried to stay rooted to the basics of a read-and-attack scheme in which routes are dictated by coverages. Chang, who calls the plays, hired his former UH center, Derek Fa‘avi, to coach the offensive linemen. Dan “Smooth” Morrison, who worked under Jones at UH and SMU and in the Canadian Football League, was brought back as quarterbacks coach.

As always, Chang has turned to Jones, co-creator of this version of the run-and-shoot, for advice. Jones has been more than willing to continue as mentor.

“We had five years of being together” as coach and quarterback, Jones said. “If he played quarterback for me, we’re going to end up being very close for a long time for a lot of different reasons. That’s what happened.”

It was in 1999, his first season as UH coach, when Jones targeted Chang, the state’s top prospect. Ron Lee, UH’s receivers coach, had implemented the run-and-shoot when he was Saint Louis’ offensive coordinator. “Ron had come to my training camps and was running my offense for years,” Jones said. “I was very aware of Timmy and what the (Crusaders) were doing.”

Jones noted that Chang, as a high school player, was making the same reads and throws that Hall of Fame quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Warren Moon made in Jones’ system.

“I watched (Chang) run the plays that we ran,” Jones said. “I could tell right away that he was special. At that time, everyone was recruiting him. That was the biggest signee that we had. That turned everything around when he came to Hawaii.”

Led by Chang, 14 of the state’s top 20 players joined the Warriors’ 2020 recruiting class.

“He was very competitive and accurate when he threw the ball deep,” Jones said of Chang. “He proved that when he played for me that he could throw the ball vertical. And he was a very competitive athlete.”

When word spread that Chang wanted to pursue a college-coaching career, Jones, who had become SMU’s head coach, offered a position as graduate assistant in 2012. The compensation was low, and the to-do list was long. “If he wanted to coach, he had to learn to do all that,” Jones said.

When Jackson State wanted to install the run-and-shoot in 2014, head coach Harold Jackson asked Jones to recommend candidates. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a guy here at GA in Timmy Chang,’” Jones recalled. “He remembered Timmy from his playing days, and that’s why he hired him (as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach) at Jackson State.”

Chang has credited Jones as one of the most impactful people in his coaching ascent. “I owe a lot to June,” Chang has said.

And on Sunday, Chang made repayments in the form of coffee, doughnuts and idea exchanges.

“We watched some film, and we were talking about a couple different plays,” Jones said. “After watching how we ran ’em, I said, ‘Timmy, you need to put this in.’ He didn’t have a couple of those in (the current playbook). It was kind of fun to do that. It was fun to work with him.”