Coach Jones often said, "We want players who want to play for the University of Hawaii."

That was his rebuttal to questions whenever -- and it was often -- UH was slow to recruit a top player. Oh, the recruiting locally has improved drastically in the past two years, much to the relief of the coaching staff (which had been on a short leash before).

So I say, in this "11th hour" of Jones' threat to take the $2 million per year contract at SMU ... "We want coaches who want to coach for the University of Hawaii."

The UH administration and athletic director Herman Frazier seem to have no accountability regarding Coach Jones' requests over nine long years to upgrade facilities. That's a long-winded way of saying that they suck.

But that's besides the real point. A fight can only be won when the fighter is actually in the ring. This fight won't be won if Jones is in Texas for five years, devoted to another program. He needs to be here to spearhead the fight.

Coach Jones, do you want to be here bad enough? It's a question you would pose to any blue-chip recruit. I think deep down, your answer is ...

Well, we'll know soon enough, won't we?

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