Jones leaves Hawaii for SMU

June Jones is giving up the paradise of Hawaii for the daunting task of trying to restore Southern Methodist to football respectability.

Jones, who coached Hawaii to an unbeaten regular season, resisted an emotional plea from Warriors fans as well as the governor and decided Monday to return to the mainland to guide a team that finished 1-11.

He agreed to a five-year deal with SMU, which will pay him about $2 million a year, agent Leigh Steinberg said.

The introduction of Jones at a booster-packed news conference in Dallas ended the nation’s longest college coaching search this year. It had been 70 days since Phil Bennett was dismissed with four games left in the season.

“Where you are now excites me because the only way is up, and I am good at going up,” Jones said.

School officials hope Jones can bring some of Hawaii’s run-and-shoot magic, which produced 43 points per game, a 12-0 regular season and a BCS bowl berth this season. They were also impressed by Jones’ ability to resuscitate Hawaii, which went 0-12 before he arrived in 1999 and won nine games his first year.

Jones was touched by the outpouring of support from Hawaii fans, including Gov. Linda Lingle, but he was ultimately lured by SMU’s facilities and bigger budget.

“There’s absolutely no comparison,” he said. At Hawaii, “the office that I sat in was the same office that Dick Tomey used in 1986. The carpet was the same. . . . You’re talking about the NFL and a Pop Warner team.”

Hawaii officials had made an offer of a salary of about $1.6 million a year and a commitment to improve its facilities.

“In 30 years representing athletes, I’ve never seen the emotional reaction from a state like Hawaii,” Steinberg said. “There was a flood of e-mails and calls exhorting him to stay.”

Jones went 75-41 at Hawaii, including 4-2 in bowls. His teams finished first in the Western Athletic Conference twice and second two other times.

SMU might be a bigger challenge because losing is so entrenched for a program that still hasn’t recovered from receiving the NCAA’s only death penalty.

Jones becomes the fifth coach to lead SMU since it came off the death penalty in 1989. The Mustangs are 58-153-3 in that span, with only one winning season. The death penalty was levied in 1987 because of rampant recruiting violations. The school voluntarily sat out in ’88.

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Cornerback Aqib Talib and left tackle Anthony Collins, the first Kansas position players to be named All-American since 1973, will pass up their senior season and make themselves eligible for the NFL draft.

Talib and Collins were key members of the surprising team that beat Virginia Tech, 24-21, in the Orange Bowl and finished 12-1 in the greatest football season in school history.

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Texas tight end Jermichael Finley said he would leave school early for the NFL draft.

Finley caught 45 passes for 573 yards and two touchdowns as a third-year sophomore last season. He joins junior tailback Jamaal Charles in leaving Texas early for the draft.

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Virginia Tech cornerback Brandon Flowers will forgo his senior year for the NFL draft. Flowers told the team he was projected as a second-round pick if he left school early. He was a second-team All-American his sophomore and junior years.