DALLAS (AP) - SMU is headed to its first bowl game in 25 years.

The Mustangs announced their Hawaii Bowl berth on Tuesday. The
campus event included cheerleaders, the band and purple and white
orchid leis for coach June Jones, athletic director Steve Orsini and school president Gerald Turner.

It's the first bowl for SMU since the Aloha Bowl in 1984. Less than three years later, recruiting violations led to SMU's ban from competition under the NCAA's so-called death penalty.

Orsini says the bowl bid "has proven there is life after death."

The game will be a homecoming for Jones. He coached Hawaii for nine seasons and led the Rainbow Warriors to the 2008 Sugar Bowl before taking the SMU job.