June Jones, Hawaii and SMU Coach Behind the Run and Shoot, Dies at 73

June Jones, the former Hawaii and SMU head coach who built his career on the run and shoot offense, died on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at age 73. His death was announced by the Run and Shoot Certification coaching program, the program he helped create around the offense. Jones also coached in the NFL as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Friends of Jones told FOX affiliate KHON that he had been in hospice care after being diagnosed with a spinal tumour, according to TSN. The Associated Press report carried by The Big 1050 said a cause of death was not divulged, and no confirmed cause was released in the reports announcing his death.

The Hawaii turnaround

Jones coached Hawaii from 1999 to 2007 and went 76-41, which makes him the winningest coach in Hawaii football history. He was inducted into the UH Sports Circle of Honor in 2024.

The scale of the turnaround is still the first line of his record. Hawaii went 0-12 in the season before Jones arrived, then went 9-4 in his first season in 1999, the best single season turnaround in NCAA history at that time.

His peak came in 2007. Hawaii went 12-0 in the regular season, the first undefeated regular season in school history, and reached the Sugar Bowl, where it lost to Georgia 41-10 and finished 12-1. Quarterback Colt Brennan was a Heisman Trophy finalist that season. Under Jones at Hawaii, quarterback Timmy Chang became the all time NCAA leader in passing yardage.

SMU, the NFL and the CFL

After Hawaii, Jones coached SMU from 2008 to 2014. He went 36-43 and led the Mustangs to four bowl games. His overall college head coaching record was 112-84.

In the NFL, Jones was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 1994 to 1996. He posted a 19-29 record and reached a wild card playoff berth in 1995. As a player, he appeared in 17 games for the Falcons from 1977 to 1981 and played one season with the Toronto Argonauts in 1982.

His later career took him back to Canada and to spring football. He was head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL in 2017 and 2018, coached the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL, and worked as offensive coordinator with the Seattle Sea Dragons in 2023, his final run in football. Jones was born in 1953 in Portland, Oregon.

Tributes from Hawaii and Hamilton

The Run and Shoot Certification program said: "June's greatest legacy wasn't the records, championships, or the offense. It was the people he believed in, the opportunities he gave, and the lives he forever changed."

Hawaii football called him "a leader, coach, mentor and innovator who helped bring Hawai'i Football to unprecedented heights."

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats said in a statement: "His belief in his players and commitment to helping them succeed left a lasting impression on those who worked alongside him."

Jones leaves a record that runs through three leagues and four decades, but it is anchored in Honolulu. A program that had not won a game the year before he arrived reached a major bowl within nine seasons, and the offense he taught there is still the one his name brings to mind.