It was an astonishing reversal of fortune.

On Feb. 10, nine players were kicked off the SMU football team. The man responsible was June Jones, the team’s coach. There has never been someone like Jones on the SMU campus. His $2.1 million annual salary, guaranteed for five years, is twice that of SMU President R. Gerald Turner. When he came to SMU one year ago, the media gave him the kind of treatment normally reserved for visiting heads of state.

As it happened, results fell short of expectations. Coach Jones’ team won one game.

Soon after the season ended, Jones kicked nine players off the team. All were reserves. Jones said he did so because each player had failed “to adhere to our department policies and/or team rules.” Jones’ decision meant each player lost his scholarship, which covered tuition, fees, room and board.

The matter appeared dead. It wasn’t.

Four of the nine players appealed Jones’ decision. The Daily Campus profiled Taylor Bon, Anthony Sowe, Ben Goldthorpe and Jordon Johnson and found evidence suggesting they were not trouble-makers.

Bon had a 3.25 grade point average. Sowe was, according to one journalism professor, a “very good student.” Johnson said he had not broken any rules, adding, “I just want to clear my name and finish school.”

“I know for a fact that many players on the team have more strikes than I have,” said Goldthorpe in a phone interview after the cuts were made. “But since they’re [Jones’] recruits, he lets it fly. … It just goes right over his head.”

For his part, Jones acknowledged some players had not blatantly violated team rules but added “life isn’t always fair.” In the final analysis, said Jones, “It’s an honor to be on scholarship. A person needs to be accountable.”

Taking away the scholarships of the four players did more than end their football careers. It also threatened their chances of graduating from SMU. Goldthorpe, Bon, Sowe and Johnson almost certainly would not have been able to come up with the $50,000 needed to attend SMU in 2009-2010.

Once the players decided to appeal Jones’s decision, their fate rested in the hands of the Judicial Council, a four-person committee composed of SMU staff, faculty and administrators. The appeals panel has the power to overturn Jones’s action and to interpret SMU’s athletic scholarship renewal policy, according to the student handbook.

Athletic scholarships are given for one year. Usually, they are renewed automatically.

Bon, Sowe, Johnson and Goldthorpe each presented his case at a hearing held by the appeals panel. The athletic department also argued its case. Also present at the hearing was Marc Peterson, the director of financial aid.

On March 27, the Judicial Council ruled in favor of all four of the former players. Each had their scholarships reinstated. According to the appeals panel, SMU’s $10 million-dollar man was wrong, the student athletes were right.

SMU officials had allowed Jones to speak openly about booting the players and taking away their scholarships. But they told the four who challenged Jones to keep their mouths shut. They did. But friends said they were overjoyed at having their names cleared and their scholarships reinstated.

Many SMU students supported the decision by Jones to kick the players off the team and take away their scholarships.

“We should give him some free reign because he’s proven himself in the past,” said Tyler Williams, a sophomore marketing major and a member of the soccer team.

But others said the Judicial Council’s decision to reinstate the scholarships shows that Jones too must follow university rules.

“Just like anyone else has to follow these rules, so does he,” said Vanisha Lewis a junior markets and culture major. “It’s not OK for anyone to overstep the boundaries set in place.”