Jones unfazed about delay in signing deal

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

BOISE, Idaho — University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones said there is no timetable for signing his new five-year contract, but he has agreed to all terms and "I don't anticipate any problems."

He also said he envisions living in Hawai'i the rest of his life.

'"Oh, yeah," said Jones, who spoke at yesterday's Western Athletic Conference Football Media Preview.

Last month, UH's Board of Regents approved a new contract that would pay Jones a base salary of $800,016 annually. His new contract, retroactive to July 1, will replace the five-year contract that was set to expire in January 2004.

Jones has not received the actual contract, but knows of all its terms. He said the holdup is in reviewing the "wording on certain clauses and stuff."

Jones, who was a UH quarterback in the early 1970s and an assistant UH coach in 1984, said it was his dream to return to Hawai'i. By agreeing to become Warriors head coach in December 1998, Jones turned down a four-year contract from the San Diego Chargers.

"It wasn't college football that brought me back, it was Hawai'i," Jones said. "It had nothing to do with the National Football League. The National Football League is the best. But I felt, for a long time, (coaching in Hawai'i) is what I wanted to do. It came down to the National Football League or Hawai'i, and I chose Hawai'i."

He added: "I wouldn't have taken another college job, and I'll never take another college job."

Meanwhile, Jones left open the possibility that his nine assistant coaches will receive pay raises. Jones had said UH has a system-wide freeze on salaries. He has met with UH athletic director Herman Frazier and "we're doing what we can do."

His assistants' contracts expired June 30, the last day of UH's fiscal year.

At the media preview yesterday, Jones told reporters that promoting UH quarterback Tim Chang as a Heisman Trophy candidate will not be a distraction. "No, in fact, I think it's only a positive thing, not just for him, but for us," said Jones, who approved spending $10,000 to produce a "TC for Heisman" DVD.

"It'll make him better," Jones added. "It'll make our conference better. It's a plus for everybody. ... I told him what I was planning to do this year with (the campaign). Lois (Manin, UH's media relations director) and I had a talk with him. And my feeling on this is, if he can't handle the pressure that (the promotion) brings with it, then he's not who I think he is. It'll make him a better player if he deals with that, as he goes on to the National Football League one day."

During his 27-game career at UH, Chang, a fourth-year junior, has passed for 8,615 yards. Brigham Young's Ty Detmer set the NCAA career record with 15,031 yards.

"I think, in his senior year, he will break the record," Jones said. After that, Jones said: "I'm not sure they will ever be broken. ... That alone will put him in the hunt for (the Heisman) if we win games over the next two years."