Bye June? Bye Frazier? Bye Bess (w/UPDATES)

UPDATE: Stephen Tsai reports about a new offer from UH this morning.

UPDATE 2: According to Dave Reardon, sources say Jones has drafted a resignation letter.

June Jones has drafted a resignation letter from his position as football coach at the University of Hawaii, several reliable sources said today. But athletic director Herman Frazier and other UH officials said early this afternoon they have not received the letter.

According to two of the sources, the letter includes a list of 19 items detailing “things that have not been dealt with” by the athletic department.

UPDATE 3: It's not FINAL FINAL, but it's looking about as final as you can get. From Stephen Tsai:

June Jones has sent letters to friends announcing that he is resigning as the UH head football coach after nine seasons.

Jones thanked his friends for their support in the letter, in which he listed several reasons why he would no longer coach at the school.

However, still get chance:

One of the friends who received the letter from Jones sad he believes it was a precautionary notification in case Jones accepted the SMU job.

The friend, who asked not to be identified, said Jones must show proof of resignation before he can accept another position.

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Stephen Tsai has details about June Jones leaving for Dallas to meet with SMU, and why.

Jones said he has not received an official offer from SMU.

"I'm going down there to meet with them, talk with them and try to make that decision," Jones told The Advertiser yesterday.

SMU has scheduled a news conference for Monday.

While SMU maneuvered to woo Jones, UH officials still had not made an offer to Jones until Thursday night. And that offer — a base salary of $1.1 million — was made in an e-mail from UH athletic director Herman Frazier to Steinberg, who is based in California. Steinberg will join Jones in Dallas.

Steinberg received UH's permission Dec. 24 to listen to offers from other schools.

Two days later, Steinberg notified Frazier, through an e-mail, that Jones received a time-sensitive offer. Frazier was asked if UH would like to submit a proposal. UH's only offer did not come until Thursday night.

Dave Reardon has more, including news about a dinner last night where friends of June and UH tried to convince him to stay.

They're hoping it wasn't the last supper.

Close friends of June Jones and the University of Hawaii football program dined with the UH coach last night, trying to get him to consider remaining at the helm of the Warriors.

Since his return from the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday -- and, according to some, before -- the word has been that Jones is leaning heavily toward moving to the Big D and leaving what he had described as his dream job.

One friend of Jones said he is "90 percent" convinced that he will take the offer to get away from frustrations at UH. Another person close to him said he'd place the odds at 50-to-1 that Jones would go to SMU rather than remain at Manoa.

That doesn't sound good at all. And since a few people think this about money, just to reiterate:

Jones and Steinberg have repeatedly said salary is not the key issue. Commitment to building new facilities and other resources are Jones' priority, Steinberg said.

This report from KGMB's Liz Chun has a very interesting Herman Frazier soundbite from a month ago which gives some possible insight into why UH dragged their feet through all this.

Ferd Lewis writes that he's dumbfounded by what's happened, but not surprised at all.

Perhaps the only thing harder to imagine than the idea of Jones bolting Manoa for "The Hilltop" would be UH administrators waiting until Thursday night to make him a renewal offer on a contract where the last game had already been played.

To wait until two days after the final game of the season to tender an offer — and then by e-mail — when you wrote the contract and knew its expiration date was fast approaching, is pretty crazy. Frankly, it would be hard to imagine at an NCAA Division I-A school.

But, then, so, too, would be taking until the 11th hour to put together the football schedule for 2007. So would be waiting until April to hire Bob Nash as the men's basketball coach when he was on campus the whole time. So would not gauging the potential interest in Bowl Championship Series tickets before deciding how many you are going to take.

KHON's Andrew Pereira has a report about the fans' reactions about this, including former UH player Kent Untermann laying down the gauntlet.

The governor and the legislature have to raise $25 million and let June (Jones) know that we're really going to do something about the facilities,” he said. “We need new leadership at the athletics department. June (Jones) would never say that but I'll say it for him - if we don't have a new athletics director June (Jones) will be gone."

In fact, as Dave Reardon writes, Untermann says that boosters have raised enough money to buy out Frazier's contract, even if it may not happen.

Disgruntled Hawaii football boosters are ready to pay UH athletic director Herman Frazier to go away.

Warriors booster Kent Untermann, a former UH tight end, said the $120,000 needed to do so has been raised.

"All we need is a trigger man," Untermann said.

It is not that simple.

University of Hawaii-Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw and the UH Board of Regents would have to endorse such a move. Hinshaw has only been at her post a few months, and the Board of Regents has always given Frazier high marks.

But Frazier's popularity with UH fans is low, especially since many feel he should have made sure football coach June Jones' contract was renewed last year. Now Jones might be headed to another school: SMU.

Here's more fan reaction from Mary Vorsino.

Paul Arnett speculates that all signs point to June leaving, with one bellwether being Davone Bess already declaring for the NFL draft.

Reardon has more about Davone declaring.

"Once he got the second-round grade he was really excited to move forward," said his agent, Kenny Zuckerman. "But it was still a tough decision for him because of the support and the chance he got in Hawaii and his love for the people there."

"It was a thrill to be a part of something special this past season and I'll remember what this team accomplished for the rest of my life," Bess said.

Stephen Tsai talks to Bess about his decision.

"I talked it over with my family," said Bess, who went home to Oakland after the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl. "You just can't pass up an opportunity like that. I've been blessed to have three good seasons at Hawai'i, and to be consistent in my stats. I'm ready to start a new phase in my life, to take on the next challenge."

"I'm always going to be grateful to the fans and the state," Bess said. "Hawai'i gave me a second chance. If it wasn't for the state accepting me, I wouldn't be in this situation. I give them all of the credit in the world."