A victory today over Boise State would give head football coach June Jones a milestone 75th — and, by far, biggest — victory at the University of Hawai'i (against 40 losses) but numbers hardly hint at everything that surrounds it.

Even for a coach who resuscitated a once moribund UH program, stanching record losing streaks to make bowl games the rule rather than the exception, this has defining moment written all over it. As crossroads go for UH's winningest coach against an all-college schedule, this is the biggest since he engineered an NCAA record turnaround from the 0-12 (1998) season preceding his arrival to 9-4 in his inaugural season (1999).

In nine seasons at the helm of this, the most closely tied of four alma maters, Jones has taken the Warriors from dregs to Top 15 ranked. A program that once was winless in 19 consecutive games over three seasons has managed to win 20 of the last 21 over the last two. The Warriors have gone from being known for the nation's longest losing streak to being recognized as the home of the most prolific passing offense. Crowds are back with the first back-to-back sellouts in nearly 20 years, ESPN cameras have become almost as much a staple as ti leaves and UH is running a pipeline to the NFL.

But the one corner that remains unturned by Jones — or any of the three coaches who preceded him in the Western Athletic Conference era — confronts him today at 4 p.m. at Aloha Stadium — an outright conference championship. And guarding it is five-time champ Boise State, his version of the neighborhood bully that Brigham Young and San Diego State had been to his predecessors. Boise was the team that three years ago turned a potential red letter day into what, at 69-3, was the most embarrassing night.

Jones has one of the two WAC titles (1999) UH has to show for 28 previous seasons of membership but both have been shared. Beat the Broncos for the first time in seven WAC meetings and that all changes in jackpot fashion with a shot at a BCS berth and, who knows, maybe a Top 10 finish.

That would not be a bad negotiating position when you are in the final months of your contract.

Whether he has calculated it or not, imagine how an impressive showing on TV would spike the talk around Georgia Tech, where speculation about coach Chan Gailey's future, should he lose to rival Georgia tomorrow, already has Jones' name in circulation. Remember, too, that Tech had an interest in Jones five seasons earlier before he denied an interest.

If Jones sauntered off after this season, he would go having left UH so much better off than he found it that few could begrudge his departure and the overwhelming majority would mourn it. Something that might not have been the case two years ago.

But Jones has done some of his best coaching in years recently. In the process, he's delivered on most of the promises he's made, no small feat when some of them have seemed pie-in-the-sky.

But the one glaring omission is in WAC titles, where Boise, more than anybody, has blocked the way. "If you want to win the WAC, you have to go through Boise to do it," Jones has acknowledged. "Until you can beat them, there's not much to say."

But some in Boise are only too glad to have their say. "Here's my deal with Jones: His teams always seem to underachieve and he still walks around with that smug look on his face," wrote Mike Prater in the Idaho Statesman last month. "The gruff demeanor is part of his personality and it's not fair to criticize a man's persona as long as he's not doing anything wrong. But Jones carries an ego that doesn't match his resume. He's won (65) percent of his games but Hawai'i has finished fourth, fifth, fifth and second in the WAC the past four seasons. That's nothing to get worked up about. Maybe it's because Jones spent so many seasons in the NFL."

In public messages to fans about sportsmanship this week, Jones reminds us: "This is Hawai'i's time to shine ..."

Not to be overlooked is that in this potential defining moment, it is Jones' time, too.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.