June Jones' contract talks to start soon

Frazier says the list of potential opponents for a 13th football game is down to 1 and a half

Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier said UH has begun work on a proposed multi-year contract for Warriors football coach June Jones.

Jones' current five-year, $4 million deal ends July 2008.

Also, UH basketball coach Bob Nash said he is ready to sign his first contract as head coach.

As for the Warriors' football schedule, Frazier said yesterday one of his two remaining prospects to complete the UH schedule at 13 games is getting "cold feet," and that he expects to announce tomorrow if there will be a game Oct. 20 at Aloha Stadium or not.

Frazier also addressed several other issues during his first of regular weekly meetings with reporters, including a new parking plan at Aloha Stadium and how heavily he will be involved with the 2008 Olympic games in China.

Contract negotiations for Hawaii football coach June Jones could begin soon, and the pact for new head basketball coach Bob Nash is nearly done, UH athletic director Herman Frazier said yesterday.

Jones is entering the final season of his five-year deal worth $800,016 per year in base salary. Work has begun on a proposal for Jones' next contract, Frazier said.

"I've already seen a draft of it," the athletic director said. "I think we'll start out with it (being) a multi-year contract and go from there."

When asked for more details, Frazier said, "That's a conversation I'll have with the coach."

It is conceivable that a new contract for Jones could be in place by the start of the season Sept. 1. But if it isn't done, negotiations could continue into 2008.

"Some people don't want to negotiate while the season's going on," Frazier said.

Half of Jones' base salary comes from private sources.

Jones was not immediately available for comment last night.

As for Nash, he and Frazier said they agreed on compensation before Nash was hired in April. The base salary is "north of $200,000" per year, Frazier said.

Nash said last night he is ready to sign a contract, but hadn't received it as of yesterday.

"The union is doing some things and we're waiting for them to sign off on it," Nash said.

Frazier said the union issue is resolved.

"He should be getting the contract soon," Frazier said.

Frazier addressed several other topics yesterday, including:

» The number of schools considering filling UH's 2007 football schedule is down to "one and a half."

As of yesterday, the Warriors had a 12-game schedule that includes two Division I-AA teams. Frazier, along with ESPN and Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson, has been trying to add another Division I team for a game Oct. 20 at Aloha Stadium. The proposal includes a financial package of around $700,000 and a nationally televised game.

Last week Frazier said the potential opponents were down to two schools from six, and UH wanted a yes-or-no answer by the middle of this week. Yesterday, he extended that to tomorrow.

"Karl Benson's going on vacation on Friday," Frazier said. "I told him if we didn't have anything done at the middle of this week or toward the end of this week we're just gonna go with 12 and we'll have everything resolved by Friday.

"People have got to make a decision one way or another. So at this point I'm not going to hold us up anymore. So it will be 48 hours. One (school's) got cold feet. So we'll go with one-and-a-half and we'll let you know Friday."

» A new parking plan is in the works for UH football games at Aloha Stadium.

"I've had several conversations with (new stadium manager) Scott Chan," Frazier said. "I would say we are in a real good sea change as relates to conversations with him about parking. We have a new parking plan we hope enables us to get people off the streets sooner and into the parking spaces."

He said details will be announced soon.

» Frazier was the chef de mission (roughly equivalent to general manager) of the United States Olympic team at the 2004 Athens Games. He said he won't hold that post at the 2008 Beijing Games. The former board member of the United States Olympic Committee said he doesn't know what role, if any, he will have in China next summer.

"I suspect I'll get some calls on certain things just because I was on that board for 22 years. I get some calls from time to time when specific topics come up," the gold medalist in the 1976 4x400 meters said. "But I won't be the chef."