UH basketball, Wallace to work on new contract
| • | Rainbows get down to business tonight |
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i will allow men's basketball coach Riley Wallace's contract to lapse in April before opening negotiations on a new multi-year contract.
Advertiser library photo • April 16, 2001
Wallace is in the final months of what was originally a three-year contract. UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida emphasized Wallace's job is not in jeopardy, and that soon after the current contract expires, talks will begin on a contract that will span 3-5 years.
Riley Wallace's current contract expires in April.
Last week, the UH Board of Regents approved a recommendation to add incentive clauses to the remainder of Wallace's contract.
Wallace, who earns about $120,000 annually in base pay, is set to receive bonuses for meeting attendance and academic goals.
When asked if the policy against renegotiating contracts — which appears to apply to all UH coaches except UH football coach June Jones — will negatively impact recruiting, Yoshida said, "No," adding that the new incentive package shows the school's commitment to Wallace.
Yoshida said that, by law, coaches at state universities in Colorado are limited to one-year contracts.
"And they seem like they're winning," Yoshida said.
Yoshida also confirmed that the board's personnel committee recommended a new one-year contract for men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton. The board will rule on the recommendation at its monthly meeting in February.
The contract Wilton signed in October 2000 expired last May 30. He was not offered a new contract until November. But the paper work was not forwarded in time for the regents' meeting in November; they did not meet in December.
Wilton is expected to receive a raise from his current base salary of $57,000. If approved, Wilton's new contract would expire in August.
"I always believed it was a question of time," said Wilton, who has started the past two seasons without a contract. "I told myself there's nothing to fret over. It would be fretting over something I have no control over."
