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Here is every Chargers head coach, from Sid Gillman to Brandon Staley.
In light of the Chargers firing Brandon Staley, here is a look at the team’s head coaching history and each of their records.
USC’s quarterback curse might set to end ahead of a move to the Big Ten.
Could USC be ready to finally snap its quarterback curse? One famed offensive guru and former NFL head coach thinks so. And he says it has nothing to do with USC’s looming move to the Big Ten.
For a program as storied as USC, the program’s difficulty in sending quarterbacks to the next level is puzzling. A move to the Big Ten, may not change that.
June Jones, a former NFL head coach and college coach, is one of the most brilliant minds in football as the creator of the ‘run and shoot offense.’ He says USC is set to start producing top-tier quarterbacks once again.
“The Big Ten move will not help them be better quarterbacks but the hiring of Lincoln Riley will help,” Jones told RutgersWire this week.
“He is a quarterback guy.”
USC has had success in winning games…and bowl games…over the past two decades behind some pretty good collegiate quarterbacks such as Carson Palmer, Matt Leinhart, Mark Sanchez and Sam Darnold. But none of those four – all first round picks – came close to living up to expectations.
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Palmer came close, but despite being an All-Pro and three times a Pro Bowl pick, was nowhere near the output or success expected of a top overall pick or a former Heisman winner. Darnold is in the league but the former third overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft has had some pretty pedestrian seasons throughout his career.
All that could change now for USC. Just in time for a move to the Big Ten.
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Riley has a tremendous track record of not just developing college quarterbacks, but getting them ready for the NFL. The likes of Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts all passed through Norman during Riley’s time as head coach at Oklahoma. Both are entrenched as starters in the league.
And there is Mayfield, who was just traded to the Carolina Panthers where he will compete with the aforementioned Darnold for the starting job. Mayfield will have a clear edge over Darnold, especially if he can show his 2020 form in training camp.
The Big Ten recently announced that USC and UCLA are leaving the Pac-12 and will join the Big Ten in 2024.
“The realignment including USC/UCLA will help them as it is all about money,” Jones said.
“The money will help in improving facilities as they go forward.”
Jones, who was twice an NFL head coach, also spent time as a college head coach with stops at Hawaii and SMU. He is currently offering a coaching course on CoachTube.
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The football coaching videos focus on his famed offense, an offense that formed the foundation for much of the modern game.
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Former college head coach June Jones raved about new LSU transfer Miles Frazier.
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LSU received a boost to their offensive line when four-star transfer Miles Frazier committed to the Tigers over Florida State and Ohio State. They struggled mightily upfront with the constant injuries and overall subpar play from the offensive line. Along with Frazier, the Tigers added the No. 1 player in Louisiana Will Campbell to their offensive line as well.
With the addition of Frazier from Florida International through the transfer portal, we spoke with the former head coach of SMU and Hawaii, June Jones. Jones now spends his time teaching the famed ‘Run and Shoot’ offense that he made famous during his time on the sidelines at the collegiate level. The national coach of the year in 1999 has been around the game of football since 1971 with the Oregon Ducks.
“This kid has the hands, movement, and balance to become a really good pass protector. His highlife tape is pretty good – like this to his feet and balance,” Jones said. “He can play; if I had him he would be a first-round pick by the time he was to be drafted! My record on getting offensive linemen drafted confirms the validity of what I am saying for these types of kids. He will have to work harder as there will be more competition at LSU. If he does he will play there and become a top pick.”
“I had to talk the Steelers into taking Kelvin Beachum,” June said. “He would be a starter at left tackle for years. They finally drafted him in the last round I think and he has played left tackle for more than 10 years now for a few teams. This kid on his highlight tape as freshman reminds me of Kelvin…..but bigger.”
The former head coach in the NFL as well in college last coached in The Spring League in 2020. He is currently involved with CoachTube, an online coaching course in sports. He offers a coaching course on his famed ‘Run & Shoot Offense.’
C.J. Stroud is starting to get noticed around the college football landscape. Here’s what former NFL and college coach June Jones had to say about the freshman.
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud is gaining admirers, including those who think that the freshman has a very, very bright future.
Former college and NFL head coach June Jones likes the play of Stroud and his growth this season. Stroud has completed 71.1 percent of his passes this season, throwing for 3,468 yards with 36 touchdowns and just five interceptions.
Jones has watched multiple games of Stroud this season and is impressed.
“His accuracy has really gotten better since the first game I saw against Oregon….I think the system he runs he is executing at a high level,” Jones told ‘Buckeyes Wire.’
“But the problem he will have is the same one that all the Ohio State quarterbacks have had is when they go to the NFL they will truly be rookies as the passing game is a college system, not an NFL passing game.”
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One of the innovators behind the ‘Run and Shoot’ offense, Jones had a prolific coaching career that includes head coaching opportunities at Hawaii and SMU, where they made four bowl appearances in seven years, winning three postseason games. In the NFL, he was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons where he spent three seasons and then as an interim head coach with the San Diego Chargers.
Jones does caution that Stroud, despite being a freshman, will need some time to develop and mature if and when he makes the jump to the NFL. That’s because of the offensive scheme run at Ohio State, under head coach Ryan Day.
Prior to becoming Ohio State’s head coach in 2019, Day spent the previous two years as the Buckeyes offensive coordinator.
“I think the system is a productive and efficient one for college football,” Jones said. “All his quarterbacks have had stats coming out; his transition to the NFL has been difficult for them [because it is] not a drop-back passing system.”
Currently, Jones is actively involved with CoachTube, a digital platform that offers football coaching courses and sports coaching courses. He has several courses available on coaching offenses and the ‘Run and Shoot’ offense.
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The preceding editorial content was put together with the assistance of Kristian Dyer of Rutgers Wire. He has multiple pieces with the likes of Paul Finebaum and other well-known college football personalities. He also does a piece titled “Around the Big Ten.” Follow his content on Rutgers and the Big Ten content going to Rutgers Wire for more.
Former Hawaii and SMU head coach June Jones shared his thoughts on what he’d do with the Oklahoma Sooners QB situation vs. TCU this week.
Right now, there isn’t a hotly debated topic in college football than what the Oklahoma Sooners should do at the quarterback position. It’s a unique spot for Lincoln Riley and the OU coaching staff.
Between Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams, the Sooners have two good options at the most important position in football. Say what you want about Spencer Rattler. He’s played some really good football for the Sooners. Aside from the Kansas State game, it has been a tough year for Rattler.
But recency bias shouldn’t erase everything he did for the Sooners last year to help them win the Big 12 Championship and the Cotton Bowl over Florida.
Williams was fantastic last week and looked to be the real deal. But that doesn’t make Riley’s decision easy. Williams doesn’t have the experience Rattler offers.
He has two guys capable of leading this team and two guys with a lot of talent. Though a report from earlier in the week indicated Williams was getting a majority of the first-team reps, there’s no telling what happened in practice the rest of the week.
Riley has been reluctant to name a starting quarterback for this week, but if the rest of the week played out like the report from OU Daily, it looks as though it’ll be the Williams show.
Former SMU and Hawaii head coach June Jones joined me on the “Locked On Sooners” podcast to promote his “Run and Shoot” coaching seminar on CoachTube.com. In the workshop, Jones and former head coach Mouse Davis take you through the ins and outs of the “run and shoot,” an offense predicated on motion and throwing the football. It’s the offense that helped Timmy Chang become the NCAA all-time leading passer at one point.
Coach Jones knows a thing or two about the offensive side of the ball and the quarterback position and offered his thoughts on what he’d do this week with Rattler and Williams.
I always feel you go back to the guy that got you to the dance. I would start (Spencer Rattler). I’ve watched him. He makes some unreal plays. He can pass the ball. I think you always go back to him. And if you really think the young kid behind him is the guy then he’s got to prove it again if Rattler doesn’t do the job, then he takes over the team at that point. But right now, for me, I’d go back to the starting quarterback and let the young kid sit there and watch him. – Jones
Rattler has played a lot of good football for the Sooners and has been a big part of Oklahoma’s nation-leading 14-game winning streak dating to last season. He hasn’t looked comfortable for much of this season, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad quarterback or incapable of turning it around.
Riley will do what he thinks is best for the Oklahoma Sooners in Saturday night’s matchup with the TCU Horned Frogs. Whether Rattler or Williams is at quarterback, the Sooners will have a good player running the show.
In 1986, the Houston Oilers almost traded Warren Moon to the Los Angeles Raiders in what might have presented an alternate NFL history.
Despite three pretty decent seasons at Washington from 1975 through 1977, Warren Moon was not considered by any NFL team as a draftable quarterback in the 1978 selection process. Like most Black college quarterbacks at the time, he was told to either switch positions to something more “athletic.” or forget about it. So, Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos, playing up north through the 1983 season and winning five consecutive Grey Cups.
By 1984, the NFL had pulled its proverbial head out regarding Moon’s potential. Now, he was a highly-prized free agent, and wound up signing with the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) to a contract that made him the NFL’s highest-paid player at that time. Moon struggled behind some really bad protection in his first few seasons, which led the Oilers to interview a new quarterbacks coach named June Jones in January, 1987. A former pro quarterback himself, Jones played for the Toronto Argonauts in 1982, so he was more than familiar with Moon’s excellence. Jones did help Moon to new heights… but it almost didn’t happen. By the time Jones was hired, the Oilers were ready to take their high-priced quarterback and move him out of town.
General manager Ladd Herzeg, who outbid the rest of the NFL for Moon’s services in the first place, and owner Bud Adams, who signed off on that deal in the second place, were prepared to transact.
“Ladd Herzeg was going to trade Warren to the Raiders,” Jones told me on the Touchdown Wire NFL Podcast this week. “I can remember, I had just come down from Canada a couple years earlier, and I had played against Warren. I knew him, and then I watched all the film from the three years that Hugh Campbell was at the Oilers, and Warren just got killed. I want to say… I think it was the last game of the year before I got there, Warren got sacked 15 times against the Cowboys (Note: it was actually Week 4 of the 1985 season, the Oilers lost 17-10 to the Cowboys, and Moon was sacked 12 times and threw four interceptions. Still, not good).
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“And he got full-on helmet in the face on every throw. I mean, it was the most brutal ass-kicking I’d ever seen a quarterback take. I remember, they were saying, ‘He’s scared! He’s scared!’ And I said, ‘No wonder he’s scared — look at this film!’
“So, I talked Ladd into at least letting me work with him in the OTAs in the spring. I took Warren, and talked them into not trading him after OTAs, because [Herzeg] still wanted him out. I said, ‘Let’s go through the preseason, see how it goes, and then you can make your decision.’ I knew Warren was going to excel in what we did. I just knew it. He was so accurate with the ball, he got the ball out, and he now knew the progressions. And we had a really good football team. I want to say, we went from the worst in the league to making the playoffs [the 1987 Oilers went 9-6 in a strike-shortened season a year after finishing with a 5-11 record], and we were one of the top offensive teams in football over the next couple of years.”
Apparently, Herzeg had this on his mind for a while. In the April 26, 1986 edition of the New York Daily News, Paul Needell wrote about the Oilers potentially selecting Purdue quarterback Jim Everett in the 1986 draft, which Herzeg said wouldn’t happen.
“Houston GM Ladd Herzeg told QB Warren Moon not to worry, he won’t take Everett if the Oilers keep [the] third pick. Then why has he talked to Al Davis about Moon? Just asking.”
It’s a fair question. To Mike McAllister of the Austin American-Statesman, Herzeg was more expansive about this curious thought process.
“It simply says that we think Everett is an outstanding young prospect who our people feel is going to become an outstanding pro quarterback,” Herzeg said. “Warren is 30 years old, and you have to think about that. Plus. it’s hard to play in this league without two good quarterbacks on your roster. In the event that something happens to Warren, you have to have a good backup.”
Herzeg compared the situation to what the Chiefs did in 1983, selecting Todd Blackledge with the seventh overall pick in that draft despite Bill Kenney playing decently the year before. The timing of the Blackledge comparison was highly suspect — in the 1985 season, Blackledge completed 50% of his passes, and threw six touchdowns to 14 interceptions.
Blackledge was out of the league after the 1989 season, as was Herzeg. So, there’s that.
No doubt, every Oilers fan ever owes June Jones a refreshing beverage. In 1990 and 1991, Moon led the league in attempts, completions, passing yards, and in 1991, passing touchdowns. He really started to turn things around in the 1987 and 1988 with Jones as his quarterbacks coach, and Moon ended his NFL career with 3,988 completions in 6,823 attempts for 49,325 yards, 291 touchdowns, and 233 interceptions with the Oilers, Vikings, Chiefs, and Seahawks from 1984 through 2000.
Though he was robbed of five early NFL seasons because NFL executives were really, really dumb about Black quarterbacks in the 1970s, and through he just missed the hyper-prolific modern passing era, Moon to this day ranks 11th all-time in attempts, 12th in completions, 12th in passing yards, 14th in passing touchdowns, and 56th in Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt. Moon was a slam-dunk first-ballot Hall of Famer, and if he’d been given the opportunity to play in the NFL when he left Washington before the 1977 season, one can only imagine his career numbers.
For the Raiders of the time, a trade for Moon would have presented quite the alternate history. In the transition of head coaches from Tom Flores to Mike Shanahan to Art Shell, the then-Los Angeles team cycled through league-average quarterbacks every season — Marc Wilson in 1987, Jay Schroder in 1988, Schroeder and Steve Beuerlein in 1989, back to Schroeder in 1990… and on and on.
The franchise generally put better-than-average defenses on the field, and had a running back corps led by Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen. Perhaps it wouldn’t have taken Tim Brown a full four seasons to come into his own as a future Hall-of-Famer. Can you imagine Moon in Mike Shanahan’s offense? Or, can you imagine the Raiders, in the late 1980s, with a Black head coach and a Black quarterback?
The mind reels.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar goes deep on the history of the run-and-shoot with coach June Jones.
In this episode of the Touchdown Wire NFL Podcast, Doug Farrar talks with longtime NCAA/CFL/NFL coach and offensive innovator June Jones. Among the topics discussed:
Listen to the podcast on BlogTalk Radio:
Watch the podcast on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNn2pRBLOoA
June Jones thinks the former Alabama quarterback has more potential than any other passer in the class, including Trevor Lawrence.
When it comes to who will be selected with the first overall pick, there aren’t many seasons that include less speculation than this one. Almost certainly, Jacksonville will take former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the selection.
Almost exclusively, draft prognosticators have Lawrence as the top passer in this class, usually followed by either Zach Wilson from BYU or Justin Fields from Ohio State.
But June Jones, a former NFL coach for the San Diego Chargers and Atlanta Falcons and college coach for Hawaii and Southern Methodist, has a bit of an… unorthodox take.
His top quarterback isn’t Lawrence. Nor is it Fields. Nor Wilson. It’s not even Trey Lance, the mysterious but intriguing prospect from North Dakota State who only got to play one game this season. According to Jones, the best quarterback in the draft as national championship-winning Alabama quarterback and 2020 Heisman finalist Mac Jones.
“Mac’s deep-ball accuracy is probably the best that I have graded in my years of coaching quarterbacks,” Jones said. “He’s almost at 55 percent at over 20 yards, which is unbelievable.
“(Mac Jones) is a receiver watcher. I could tell watching him on television when they had the right camera angle. And I really think that is huge for him. It’s how he naturally throws the deep ball.”
Jones’ take is interesting, but it certainly runs counter to most draft experts, who have Mac closer to No. 5 or 6 on the quarterback rankings. And though the former coach may think he’s better than Lawrence, the odds that the Jaguars pull the trigger on him are basically negligible.
Most draft analysts see Jones coming off the board as a mid or late first-rounder, so his projections aren’t really close to Lawrence’s right now.
The XFL got off to a nice start what looms in Week 2 of the league’s season.
The XFL made it through its first week and only one coach, DC Pepper Johnson of the LA Wildcats, won’t make it to the second game. The league kicked off to a promising start. Now, the challenge is to keep it up and keep the interest.
Winston Moss isn’t messing around. Something happened with Pepper Johnson and Moss, the Wildcats’ head coach, dismissed the multiple-time Super Bowl winner. Could it have been the 37 points allowed to the Houston Roughnecks? Team captain Anthony Johnson also declared his free agency. Not safe to have the last name of Johnson with the Wildcats. The second opponent is the Dallas Renegades, who are 0-1, too. Bob Stoops’ Renegades are looking for their first TD after notching three field goals against the St. Louis Battlehawks. Swapping Landry Jones for Philip Nelson should make a huge difference for the Dallas offense.
The XFL is back. There will be four games this weekend, all on national TV. A primer on the league.
The XFL is back. The league that was one-and-done after its 2001 campaign returns this weekend with a quartet of games. Here’s how you can watch them and what to expect. The last time the league had a game the San Francisco Demons lost to the LA Extreme in the “Million Dollar Game.”
