NEW TICATS COACH SAYS HE’S UP FOR DAUNTING TASK

Jones has guided some of the absolute best, and worst, quarterbacks of all time

In his illustrious career, he has coached Jim Kelly, Warren Moon and Brett Favre, all of whose busts now reside at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Conversely, he oversaw the likes of Jeff George and Ryan Leaf, two highly skilled underachieving quarterbacks who critics labelled busts on more than one occasion.

Yes, June Jones certainly has coached a wide variety of signalcallers in the past three decades, players ranging from the creme de la creme to the crumbs de la crumbs of the quarterback world.

Now, here he is in Hamilton, punted up to head coach, in charge of putting the Humpty Dumpty unit known as the CFL’s Tiger-Cats back together again.

A year ago at this time, Jones was the offensive co-ordinator at Hawaii’s Kapolei High School. Now, 12 months later, he’s been assigned the unenviable task of righting a Ticats team that finds itself mired in CFL ineptness at 0-8. Of all the tasks that confront him in Steeltown, getting his quarterbacks to believe in themselves again will be his No. 1 task.

The CFL is a quarterback’s league. Jones knows that. Back in 1982, he lined up behind centre for the Toronto Argonauts. Four years later, he served as the offensive co-ordinator for the Ottawa Rough Riders. As a disciple of the Mouse Davis run-and-shoot school, he’s quite familiar with the wider fields and wide open game that is threedown football.

Fair enough. The question now becomes: Can he transform incumbent Zach Collaros into the standout guy who was an MVP candidate in 2015 before suffering a season-ending knee injury?

Collaros has lost 12 straight games, one shy of the CFL’s 63-year-old record of futility. His game has broken down and so has his belief.

With that being the case, Jones said a decision on his starting quarterback between Collaros and backup Jeremiah Masoli will come next week. Can he extract their inner Warren Moons, Brett Favres, Jim Kellys? Or will their Ryan Leaf-like performances continue to grease the Ticats’ skid into irrelevance?

Hamilton doesn’t play again until Sept. 4, when they host the rival Argonauts at Tim Hortons Field in the annual Labour Day game. In the psyche of the proud and loyal Tiger-Cats fan base, a humiliation at the hands of the Argos would be the ultimate embarrassment, one Jones is now charged with avoiding.

Given the daunting task ahead, maybe coaching high school kids among the palm trees in Hawaii doesn’t sound so bad.

But Jones isn’t backing down. Vice-president of football operations Kent Austin fired himself as coach Thursday and announced Jones as his replacement, and Jones is embracing the task, however difficult it might be.

Jones joined the Ticats on Aug. 2 as an assistant head coach following their embarrassing 60-1 thumping to the Stampeders in Calgary. Hamilton has lost all three subsequent outings, outscored by a margin of 109-58.

“I did not envision this (becoming head coach),” Jones told reporters Friday during a press conference in Hamilton. “But this is kind of why I do what I do. I’m kind of motivated by the situation Hamilton is in right now. I’m excited for this city to try and get it turned around for everybody.”

Restoring the team’s confidence will be key to that.

“I think that’s what affects winning more than anything else,” he said. “You could run the wishbone (offence) and if everybody believes in the wishbone, guess what, you can win up here with it.

“It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it and how you execute.”

Back in the early days of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then-coach John McKay was asked about his team’s execution.

“I think it’s a good idea,” McKay quipped.

Will June Jones be uttering those same words in a few weeks?

The Ticats and their rabid supporters certainly hope not.