UH regents approve Jones' $800,016-a-year contract

By Stephen Tsai and Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawai'i football coach June Jones, left, got a new contract and a new assistant coach this week. After a long courting, Cal Lee, right, has joined the staff as a linebackers coach. Lee is the former Saint Louis School football coach. Advertiser library photo • March 19, 2002

"June Jones has had and will continue to have for five years a great impact on the psychology of Hawai'i," said UH President Evan Dobelle yesterday after making the the coach the highest-paid state employee.

Dobelle cited the way Jones turned a downtrodden football program (0-12 in 1998) into the biggest turnaround team in the country at 9-4 in 1999, and rallied a state in tough economic times.

"He is a metaphor for success in many ways because we're so far from everybody else," Dobelle said. "Can we win in big-time sports? Football, of all the big-time sports, is the most visible."

Jones, who was on Maui, did not attend the Board of Regents session where his contract received unanimous approval without debate.

"I'm very appreciative of this gesture," Jones said.

Although Jones' annual salary will be nearly twice as much as Dobelle's, Jones said, "This wasn't about money. I had offers to make more money at other places. If this was about money, I would have accepted those offers. I said all along I wanted to stay. This is where I want to be."

Jones had one more season remaining on the original five-year contract he signed in January 1999. The new contract takes effect July 1 and will run through June 30, 2008.

The money to underwrite the deal will come half from athletic department-produced money and half from donations, said athletic director Herman Frazier, who raised the money and negotiated the deal.

Frazier said "10 to 12" donors, whom he refused to name — but all local and all individuals — have contracted with the school to provide between $25,000 and more than $100,000 each per year.

Frazier said the written pledges, some processed through the athletic department's booster club or the UH Foundation, are guaranteed, even if Frazier leaves before Jones' contract expires.

Frazier and Jones' agent, Leigh Steinberg, said while the financial base has been agreed upon, exact language of several provisions remains to be worked out. The Hawai'i Government Employees Association is expected to review the contract. It might take up to a week before Jones is sent the final draft to sign.

Frazier said the contract would contain "six or seven standard incentives" such as bonuses for bowl game appearances, but none for academic performance.

Frazier said Jones would have to pay six months' salary, $400,008, as a buyout if the coach left before the end of his contract. In addition, Frazier confirmed there will be a so-called "conduct" clause in the final contract. The conduct clause was not included in the draft reviewed by the Board of Regents

J.N. Musto, executive director of the UH Professional Assembly, the faculty union, termed Jones' contract a "business agreement," and said because half of the money came from private donations and apparently will not involve a shifting of state or tuition money, he did not have a problem with the deal. "There is no question he has been a good football coach by any measure," Musto said.

Steinberg said, "It is especially gratifying to construct a contract that will, hopefully, allow him to spend his career where he wants to be.

"Kudos to Herman. Once Herman focused on (the contract) and what June meant to football and the university, the process moved smoothly."

Steinberg said the process "became very active in the last six weeks or so."

Last year, Jones was paid $320,000, with $220,000 coming directly from the university and Na Koa, the football program's booster club. He also received a housing allowance of $40,000 and $60,000 from television and radio deals.

In an attempt to standardize the contracts of all UH coaches, Frazier wanted Jones' next contract to have a cash-only base package. That is why this deal does not include a housing allowance or appearance fees.

"It's strictly a business deal," Frazier said. But Frazier said the nine football assistant coaches, each up for new one-year contracts, still will be offered housing allowances.

Jones, 50, is 31-20 in four seasons at UH.

Correction: Edwin Cadman, dean of the University of Hawai'i medical school, said he must wait until the end of his five-year contract to receive $500,000 in deferred compensation. Advertiser stories (Wednesday and yesterday) said the deferred compensation would allow him to overtake UH President Evan Dobelle as the school's highest-paid employee.