[ UH ATHLETICS ]
Regents approve
Jones’ contractThe Hawaii football coach
plans to sign it next week
KAHULUI, Maui >> June Jones' proposed five-year, $4 million contract was approved at yesterday's University of Hawaii Board of Regents meeting, clearing the way for its public release once the head football coach signs it. Jones said he will sign it sometime next week.
"Obviously I'm happy, very glad it's done. There was a lot of technical stuff," said Jones. "I'm at their mercy (when to sign it)."
Jones' new deal doubles the coach's annual pay to about $800,000, plus incentives, and makes him the highest-paid state employee, ahead of UH President Evan Dobelle, who earns $442,000 a year.
It also makes Jones the highest-paid coach in the Western Athletic Conference. He has repeatedly said he turned down lucrative coaching offers elsewhere since joining the UH program in December 1998. He added that his new $800,000 contract will not cost taxpayers more than his current deal because the difference will be picked up by private donors. He said the university will refuse to disclose the names of the donors once the contract is revealed.
That may be, but UH officials have said that they will release details of the new contract based on the recent opinion by the state Office of Information Practices, which concluded there is enough public interest to justify disclosure of the multi-year deal.
The fifth-year head coach is 32-20 for the Warriors. He took a team that was 0-12 in 1998 and led Hawaii to a 9-4 campaign, including a win over Oregon State in the 1999 Oahu Bowl. It was the greatest turnaround in NCAA history and led to Jones being named the coach of the year by CNN/Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News.
The Warriors (1-0) have a bye this weekend after beating Appalachian State 40-17 last week. UH plays at fourth-ranked Southern California next week.
