Jones rips state law
By Stephen Tsai and Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writers
University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones yesterday said that disclosing terms of his current and pending contracts will "cost us money," but refused to elaborate further.
He also blasted the state's Office of Information Practices, which rejected UH athletic director Herman Frazier's argument for keeping confidential the terms of Jones' contracts, and unnamed legislators for passing the Uniform Information Practices Act, Hawai'i's open records law.
"They always seem to know — legislators — what's best for everybody else, and obviously they've proven that by the conditions of our schools and the condition of our university right now," Jones told reporters after yesterday's morning practice.
Thursday afternoon, the OIP announced its ruling that UH did not have a compelling reason to withhold details of the five-year contract Jones signed with UH in January 1999. Jones still is operating under terms of that agreement until he signs the new five-year $800,016 deal that was approved in June by the school's Board of Regents.
UH president Evan Dobelle said the school will comply with the directive and disclose in entirety Jones' contracts. "We will, of course, release the contract," Dobelle told The Advertiser. "It's in keeping with my openness policy."
The Advertiser, Honolulu Star-Bulletin and KITV are among those who have sought details of the contracts under the UIPA. Nearly all states have such a law.
"Virtually all states and the federal government have it in one form or another," said Jeff Portnoy, a media law authority for Cads Schutte Fleming & Wright. "There's nothing very unique about Hawai'i's statute. It is just one of 51."
With the exception of UH, every public university in the Western Athletic Conference has disclosed at least some of the contract terms of its head football coach.
Jones said he and Hugh Yoshida, the UH athletic director at the time, agreed to keep confidential the terms of the 1999 contract. Jones had a similar arrangement with Frazier over the new contract.
"Both of us talked about it, agreed upon it, and it is in our best interest as a school that it would be kept confidential," Jones said.
When pressed about why he wanted the terms kept secret, despite claims there is nothing extraordinary included, Jones said: "I'm not going to get into it. Hugh and Herman and I know what the reasons are. We explained them to the OIP, and, like I said, they obviously know what's in the best interest of the people better than we do. In my eyes, they've proven they're incapable of doing that."
In an appeal to the OIP, UH argued that disclosing Jones' contract will hurt morale in the athletic department and make it difficult for Frazier to negotiate contracts with the head coaches of other UH sports.
The OIP rejected that argument, ruling: "... It is simply too unrealistic to think that, even if another coach knew all of the terms of Coach Jones' contract, he or she could demand terms similar to Coach Jones' deal. Accordingly, we do not see why UH believes that disclosure of Coach Jones' contract will impair athletic director Frazier's ability to negotiate other contracts."
Jones said he has saved UH money by requesting that the athletic department not pay for the salary increase in the new contract. Jones earns $320,000 annually under the 1999 contract, with Na Koa, the football program's booster club, paying a portion of the salary.
Jones said all of the negotiating points on his new contract have been settled.
