Frazier has many reasons to be UH fan
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
If Herman Frazier wasn't already on the way to being a big fan of the University of Hawai'i baseball team, he just got plenty of incentive to get there:
If the Rainbows go to an NCAA regional, their new athletic director stands to receive a $17,500 bonus, the equivalent of a month's pay under his $210,000 base salary.
And, if the Rainbows should someday get to the College World Series, on his watch, Frazier will get an additional $10,000.
Suddenly, there are 27,500 reasons to think "Go 'Bows!"
They are some of the interesting and more well reasoned provisions of Frazier's three-year contract.
Likewise, anytime one of UH's profit-making teams — football, men's basketball or men's and women's volleyball — gets to the NCAA postseason there will be a little extra tucked into Frazier's pay envelope. Bonuses equivalent to as much as three months' salary ($52,500) can be accrued in a single fiscal year under the terms of the contract he signed last week.
This is the way it has been for most Division I-A athletic directors for years. But in Manoa, it qualifies as groundbreaking stuff. Slowly and only recently, has the school seen the wisdom in making incentive clauses a major part of coaches' contracts. Some of which would seem to make more sense than others.
For the most part, they are fair and valuable elements of contracts, provisions that necessarily peg pay to performance. Turn a profit like Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji's program annually does, and you should share in the spoils.
Win a national championship as Warrior volleyball coach Mike Wilton did or take a team to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments a la Riley Wallace and reward is due. Maintain a 100 percent graduation rate as Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Vince Goo has or beat the bejabbers out of Brigham Young like June Jones did to cap a 9-3 season and recognition should be forthcoming.
Likewise, the AD should be evaluated on the performance of the school's 19-sport athletic program.
A bonus for landing the program in the Top 20 of the U. S. News & World Report's college sports rankings is certainly one way to do it as are premiums for bowls, NCAA Tournaments, etc.
But there is one element whose merits you really have to wonder about. What kind of a message does it send, for example, to reward the AD with a $5,000 bonus "if there are no major NCAA infractions for every year" of the agreement?
That is one of the provisions of Frazier's contract, one that shouldn't be in his or anybody else's deal. Observing NCAA rules should be understood to be a daily part of all the jobs in the athletic department. Job one.
Sit by during major violations on your watch and it isn't just a bonus you should lose out on, but the job.
