June Jones couldn't deliver on promise

— -- Ultimately, football coach June Jones failed at SMU because he didn't keep his promise to deliver a record-setting offense. And that's because he never recruited or developed a difference-maker at quarterback like he did at Hawaii, where Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan produced numbers usually only amassed on video games.

Jones resigned Monday after an 0-2 start that included a 43-6 butt-kicking by North Texas on Saturday.

Jones used four primary starting quarterbacks in his six full seasons on the Hilltop. Kyle Padron produced the best season in 2010 when he passed for 3,828 yards with 31 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. That's a good season, but not the kind of prodigious season Jones' quarterbacks regularly produced at Hawaii.

Just so you know, Jones never had a quarterback throw for fewer than 4,200 yards in his final six seasons at Hawaii. In 2006, Brennan passed for 5,549 yards with 58 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

In his last four seasons at Hawaii, Jones' teams scored more than 40 points 31 times, and in 2007 the Warriors scored more than 40 points eight times, 50 points four times and 60 points twice. That's the kind of offense SMU thought Jones would bring to SMU. But it never happened. SMU scored more than 40 points a total of 12 times under Jones.

Now, Jones does get credit for resurrecting SMU's program and taking it to four consecutive bowl games before last season's 5-7 campaign. But, without a star quarterback, he never truly flipped the program into a winner with staying power. See, the game is always about the quarterback. That will never change.

When Texas had Vince Young and Colt McCoy, it competed for national championships. Without them, the Longhorns have been blown out in consecutive years by BYU.

Johnny Manziel arrived at Texas A&M and suddenly the Aggies became one of the top teams in college football. Then A&M coach Kevin Sumlin recruits and develops Kenny Hill and it becomes clear why the Aggies believe they run this state.

Baylor coach Art Briles, as good at recruiting and developing quarterbacks as anyone in the country, arrives in Waco and suddenly the Bears have a Heisman Trophy winner in Robert Griffin III. Griffin leaves and Nick Florence throws 33 touchdown passes with 13 interceptions. Florence leaves and Bryce Petty throws 32 touchdowns with three interceptions as the good times keep rolling.

That's why SMU athletic director Rick Hart has to hire a coach with a proven record of developing dual-threat quarterbacks within a dynamic offensive system if he wants to make SMU's football program remotely as relevant as the basketball program is these days. And the guy he hires must be committed to creating relationships with the high school coaches in North Texas and the rest of the state, something Jones failed to do.

There are so many good high school quarterbacks and players in this state that it's a crime not to always have a couple of good quarterbacks on the roster.

The right coach who recruits the right quarterback will quickly make SMU competitive again. Hart just needs to take his time and find the right guy.