University of Hawai'i
University Relations
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Honolulu, HI 96822

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For Immediate Release:

August 10, 1999

Contact: Donne Florence, PIO, 808-956-7522

What: University of Hawai'i Manoa Summer Commencement Bachelor's and advanced degrees will be presented in a single morning ceremony.
Who:

932 students are eligible to receive baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates. Their names appear in a special souvenir edition of the Sunday newspaper, which will be available for purchase outside the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH Rainbow Warriors football coach June Jones will deliver the commencement address.

Where:

Stan Sheriff Center, UH Manoa

Friends and family members may greet graduates after the ceremony on the grass field mauka of Rainbow Stadium.

When:

Sunday, August 15, 9 a.m.

The ceremony is expected to last approximately two hours.

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

June Jones

University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones, who spent his last 10 years coaching in the National Football League, aspires to put the Hawai'i program back on the map. Though 1999 will be a rebuilding season for the football team, Jones has identified some quality building materials already. Not the least of these is a 76 percent graduation rate for UH student athletes-one of the top 20 in the nation, among NCAA Division I colleges and universities.

Jones himself is noted as a thinker and innovator, with a keen appreciation for the value of brainpower. He began his coaching career in 1983 as quarterbacks coach under UH head coach Dick Tomey. In Jones's one season at Hawai'i, the Warriors set 21 school records and the offense averaged 22.8 points per game, scored 30 touchdowns (12 rushing and 18 passing), and averaged 355.4 yards of total offense.

Jones got his first shot at coaching in the NFL as quarterbacks coach with the Houston Oilers in 1987. By 1994 he was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Jones helped the young Falcons franchise to its first playoffs in 1995. That year, the Falcons posted a 9-7 record and had the first 4,000-yard passer in franchise history (Jeff George).

Despite all his travels as an NFL player and coach, Jones has called Hawai'i home since 1984, and coaching the Rainbow Warriors was a long-held dream. Jones surprised many football experts when he turned down the opportunity to continue coaching in the NFL in order to accept the offer to coach Hawai'i's footballers.

 

-UH-