June Jones to stay at SMU after “bizarre negotiations”

by Brooke Williamson of The Daily Campus

There was reportedly a sticking point over the $2 million buyout of Jones' SMU contract.

June Jones

Wednesday morning began with reports that SMU football Head Coach June Jones would be announced as the new head coach at Arizona State University. By 4 p.m. that afternoon, it had been released that contract negotiations had been canceled and Jones would not be named ASU's head coach.

With more than 600 articles floating around the Internet about the "bizarre endings to negotiations," it is important to set the facts straight — especially when rumors and ideas that are false began to circulate.

CBSSports.com along with ESPN were the first to release that ASU was to take Jones as their new head coach after dismissing Dennis Erickson a week ago. Students and players alike protested the exit of Jones on their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

It wasn't long until Devilsdigest.com made it clear that ASU was not pursuing Jones and had canceled all contract negotiations. The reasoning for the abrupt pull, at the time, was because "outcry of the Sun Devils' boosters reached deafening levels."

With the shortage of information given as to why ASU pulled the plug after reaching negotiations, Leigh Steinberg, Jones' agent, called it one of the most "bizarre endings to a set of productive discussions."

Steinberg posted on his official company website that "everything was set, a few tweaks left, and the principal decision maker yanks the deal with no real explanation."

Sports by Brooks, an investigative sports reporter, said, "multiple sources close to the negotiations said that the sticking point between the two parties was the $2 million buyout in Jones' SMU contract."

The "bizarre" situation between ASU and June Jones will continue overnight, and more articles will be written and tweets will be posted, causing more chaos to the world of college football as we know it.

It is not seen to be the fault of one side or the other but rather an "overselling" by the media or possibly by Jones' agent, Steinberg.

Jones is expected to release a statement, and until he does so, his players and staff will respect him by not making statements or talking to the media. This is in effect to stop the spread of rumors and to create some order in the midst of chaos.

Today, however, showed one certainty to the sports world as it is: Nothing is certain until it is done -- "done" in terms of houses moved and contract signed, not "done" as in "contract negotiations." This is true in all areas of sports, not solely for coaching changes, but also as seen earlier this year with conference realignment and transfers.