Hawaii’s Jones Is Critically Injured

June Jones, the Hawaii football coach who directed the biggest one-year turnaround in NCAA history, was critically injured Thursday when he drove into a concrete pillar on a freeway.

The 48-year-old former NFL quarterback and head coach suffered a major head injury and was unconscious and unresponsive when paramedics reached the scene of the 10:30 a.m. accident, said Sgt. David Talon of the accident investigation team.

Neil Fergusson, the trauma surgeon who operated on Jones at The Queen’s Medical Center, said the coach was in critical but stable condition. The doctor said Jones remained unconscious.

Jones was driving alone near the Honolulu Airport when his car ran off the roadway and crossed about 200 feet of dirt and grass before hitting the concrete pillar supporting the Kamehameha Highway overpass. There were no skid marks behind the wrecked car.

Jones took over the Hawaii program after the team went 0-12 in 1998. In his first season, the Warriors were 9-3 and won the Oahu Bowl. They slipped to 3-9 last year.