Free cars for coaches;
drive to win?

In exchange, dealers get game tickets
and more, all standard practice, says UH

By Ian Lind
Star-Bulletin

Part 4 of a series

The president of the University of Hawaii doesn't get one. The chairman of the Board of Regents doesn't get one.

But the UH athletic director, his top assistant, and more than 20 coaches drive new cars signed over to them by local car dealers. In exchange, the dealers get advertising in athletic department publications, tickets to games, parking and other benefits.

The cars are another example of the differences between business as usual in athletics and in the rest of state government.

Associate Athletic Director Jim Donovan said it is "very standard" for schools around the country to provide coaches with cars. The University of Hawaii has had a courtesy car program since the days of football coach Dick Tomey, Donovan said.

"Normally, about every two years, the athletic director gets on the phone and starts calling around to dealers," Donovan said.

There were 18 courtesy cars assigned in 1994-95, according to a June 1995 memo from Yoshida, with 10 cars assigned to football, three to men's basketball, two to baseball, and one each to women's basketball, women's volleyball and softball.

There are currently between 20 and 25 cars, Donovan said.

The courtesy car program is not well-known outside the athletic department. According to Jim Manke, interim vice president for university relations, only eight individuals in the entire UH system are authorized to take a state vehicle to and from work, including the university president, three vice presidents and a former vice president, the athletic director, the chancellor of community colleges, one community college provost and an agriculture extension agent.

Mortimer drives a 3- or 4-year-old Buick purchased by the state, Manke said.

Title to the courtesy cars, unlike state-owned vehicles, is usually signed over to the recipients to shield the dealers from liability, Donovan said. There are no restrictions on use of the cars, which are available for personal as well as business use. Dealers retain ultimate ownership by being listed as lien holders, he said.

Some faculty members think the courtesy car program needs closer scrutiny.

"There are questions having to do with distribution of state property (season tickets) in exchange for personal favors for state employees," said Peter C. Nicholson, professor of English and chairman of the Faculty Senate Committee on Athletics. Nicholson said his committee has not yet reviewed the matter, but this and other fiscal issues are on its long-term agenda.

To avoid conflicts with a state law prohibiting outside compensation, courtesy cars are included in coaches' employment contracts, "pending availability."

A standard contract provision prohibits coaches from soliciting car dealers or endorsing products, but Donovan said dealers typically develop relations with "their" coaches. Athletic department records show that some coaches meet directly with dealers to discuss the car program and use booster club funds to purchase game tickets that are given to their car dealers.

These relationships between coaches and dealers sometimes cause problems for the department, Donovan said, such as when head football coach Bob Wagner was replaced.

"There were a lot of dealers that had really become attached to the football staff, because they had been here for a long time," Donovan said. "So when the staff was fired, they said, 'Gee, I'm not going to give the car anymore.' So Hugh (Yoshida) was out scrambling around to find cars for the new coaches."

Donovan said he received a Ford Taurus through the courtesy car program.

"My wife's driving it. I'm happy; my wife's happy. I'm not complaining in the least bit," he said.

Donovan said he trades four sets of complimentary tickets to UH events to a car dealer, who in turn gives him use of a courtesy car valued at $5,000 per year. Donovan said ethics laws now require that he recuse himself from any decisions involving that car dealer.

In the case of coaches, the tickets are sent directly to the dealers by the athletic department.

The value of the cars is considered taxable income to recipients, Donovan said.

Men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton said the courtesy car was included in his contract, but he initially did not get a car.

"I used to keep asking about it," Wilton said. "It reached a point that I asked them to strike it from my contract. It made me angry to see it in the contract when I wasn't getting a car, and I said it should be an embarrassment to the department."

Wilton said he finally blew up after his 1981 car broke down last year for the second time in a matter of weeks.

"After the second breakdown, I mentioned it to Hugh, and by the end of the week they had a courtesy car for us."

Wilton said he previously met a car dealer who badly wanted to be involved in the courtesy car program. Wilton said he repeatedly suggested the dealer's name to Donovan and Yoshida.

"I don't know what the problem was, but they never called the guy," Wilton said.