By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

If you are June Jones, no matter how deeply you immersed yourself in Xs and Os or egg nog this month, it has been hard to miss the annual wave of contract renegotiations.

Every time you open your favorite morning newspaper or turn on SportsCenter, it seems there is news of another football coach getting a raise or lucrative extension.

Not just the Dennis Franchiones moving from one job to another or going where the money is greener, but coaches staying put. It isn't just merchants who look forward to this time of the year, it is also college football coaches hoping to cash in on their records and bowl appearances.

University of Hawai'i head football coach June Jones has an annual salary of $320,000, plus bonuses. Advertiser library photo

Twenty percent of the 117 NCAA Division I-A football coaches now have deals worth $1 million or more, but you don't have to be at Alabama or at what they are calling Texas ATM, to cash in these days. Consider that South Florida's Jim Leavitt, for whom a 9-3 season still didn't rate a bowl invitation, nearly doubled his salary to $560,000. He reportedly stands to get $700,000 before the five-year deal expires.

Closer to home, Fresno State rewarded Pat Hill with a package said to be worth upwards of $400,000 and incentives that could top $500,000. Boise State doubled Dan Hawkins' deal to more than $300,000, with bonus provisions targeted to put him in the $465,000 range. Even Chris Tormey, who took Nevada to a 5-7 mark, got a significant bump.

Which brings us back to Jones, who has an annual salary of $320,000 ($170,000 guaranteed by the athletic department) plus bonuses. Or, approximately what a top-notch offensive coordinator might make at a marquee school these days.

Jones has one year left on his original five-year deal and is seeking an extension, just as he was last year before breaking off negotiations in February.

After a 31-20 record, two bowls and a flirtation with the national rankings, the question isn't whether Jones deserves a nice raise with his contract extension. Of course he does, and UH needs to be creative in finding a way to keep him.

The issue is: What can UH reasonably afford?

At a time when the bucks are tight everywhere on campus, it would be both wrong and unrealistic to expect money to be diverted from the school's primary mission of education.

More appropriately, UH will likely look again at donations and possibly ticket pricing. Former athletic director Hugh Yoshida tapped boosters and some private donors to put together much of the package that brought Jones here.

Now, it falls to Herman Frazier, Yoshida's successor, who is probably going to need help from UH President Evan Dobelle, to find the solution to keeping Jones on the job.