By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

So, what's the first thing University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones does after the school's board of regents approves his new contract?

• Slap down $5,000 in a betting pool for the Rainbow Warrior basketball team to win the NCAA Tournament?

• Drop in on fraternity row and party hearty after a road game loss?

• High-tail it to a Pensacola, Fla., strip club for a date with Destiny?

• Inflate his resume with an advanced degree?

• Give his credit card to a player to buy a TV?

No, probably not.

But as too many recent headlines suggest, the next coach who does won't exactly be a trailblazer among his Division I-A brethren. In this year of coaches-gone-bonkers, the frontiers are wide open.

That's why, while it takes care to dot the i's and cross the t's on Jones' contract this week, it behooves the UH Board of Regents to also insist on a so-called "conduct" clause in the deal. Not only for Jones but for the newly hired tennis coach and each succeeding head of one of its programs who signs on.

For the money that UH is preparing to pay out on this deal — upwards of $700,000 per year over a five-year agreement — and in others, it has the right and, indeed, the responsibility to insist upon certain standards from those who represent it.

Which means provisions along the lines of the ones in athletic director Herman Frazier's contract, for instance. Those that give UH the power to terminate over: "... any conduct ... that constitutes moral turpitude or would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon the institution;

"A deliberate or serious violation of any local, state or federal law; or any policy or procedure of the university, which violation may, in the sole judgment of the Board, reflect adversely upon the university; ..."

Curiously, Frazier has said that none of the current coaches have conduct clauses in their contracts and that he has been looking into eventually adopting such language. Yesterday, nobody was willing to say whether conduct provisions would be in Jones' contract or not.

You like to think it is because UH has had some good people that it has managed to get along this far without a high-profile embarrassment. Or, maybe it has just been exceedingly lucky and kept some things quieter than Jones' plea on school letterhead on behalf of a friend convicted of bank fraud.

But past good fortune is no guarantee that it won't be left with a whole Grade "A" carton of egg on its face in these days of cell phone cameras and the Internet.

Considering that Jones is the state's most visible public figure and is sure to be its highest-priced employee, this is an overdue place for UH to start.

Eventually, it might also want to insert a clause against going for it on fourth down-and-forever situations this fall — but first things first.