Even though it was the Mustangs’ bye weekend, they arguably suffered their worst loss of the season: June Jones is still the head football coach.
I can’t believe it, Doak Walker’s ghost can’t believe it, but even more importantly, Rick Hart, the athletic director, can’t believe it. I can only assume Rick Hart was licking his chops to fire Jones after the Rutgers game, believing they were going to get embarrassed at home for the third straight time this season (yes, beating Montana State by one point is embarrassing unless you’re the Jacksonville Jaguars).
Firing Jones going into a bye weekend would have been perfect; two weeks is more than enough time for Larry Brown to get the Mustangs ready for Memphis.
However, our “Longhorns’ sloppy seconds” Garrett Gilbert did his best Johnny Manziel impression and sent the game into overtime, destroying Hart’s plan to ironically hand Jones a pink slip during breast cancer awareness month.
Good going, Gilbert!
I would have still fired him after the game. However, I don’t have a Hart of gold. Nonetheless, let’s face the facts; unless SMU wins the American Amateur Conference (no, that is not a mistype), the June bug is going to be squashed at the end of the season.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Jones is on the hot seat: we are 1-4 this year with our only win being against the Montana State Bobcats (a school who has an endowment valued less than my watch). The “Garret Gilbert Experiment” has gone exactly like Longhorn fans thought it would, and most importantly, we still haven’t forgotten the Arizona State-June Jones love affair that ESPN exposed like it was doing an episode of “Cheaters.”
Each weekend we pretend to have forgotten these things, but I just can’t anymore.
Besides the Rutgers game, we have lost by an average of twenty-six points. Yes, I understand two of those teams are in the Big 12 and one is in the SEC, but all three of those schools are filled with kids who I used to tease and make fun of in high school (have you been to Lubbock? No, because you probably have dreams).
That’s what kills me the most: June Jones is letting me look like a fool for choosing to go to SMU. We all need to stop pretending that we don’t go to a school in the state of Texas (I’m specifically calling you out, California kids), In Texas having the best football team is like being the proudest kid in the locker room, but as of late June Jones has made us the kid who showers with his underwear on, when it should be those nerds at Rice.
Maybe Rick Hart has a different plan of how he wants to squash the June bug, or maybe he wants us to just become a basketball school like the University of Texas, or maybe he’s waiting for Sherwood Blount to come back before he does anything. I just don’t know; he hasn’t returned any of my voicemails. All I can hope for is that in the next couple of weeks I’ll be seeing Jones on “College GameDay” talking about how he got fired.
Whatever the case may be, Rick Hart has his work cut out for him. We already know we are going to be competing with USC for a head coach, and there is also a good possibility we will be competing against Texas, too. Oh, wait a second, what am I talking about? I forgot it’s not 1983. Who knows where I can pre-order my basketball season tickets for the next four years? When all is said and done, my only request, Mr. Hart, is just don’t hire someone that has ever worn a Hawaiian shirt, unless it’s Jimmy Buffet.
Cade is a junior majoring in advertising.
