Coaches still without Christmas bowl bonuses
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Christmas is late for the University of Hawai'i football team's assistant coaches.
The nine full-time assistants from last year's staff — including special teams coach Tyson Helton, who accepted a coaching job with Memphis in March — have not received bonuses for the Warriors' participation in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl last Christmas Day.
The assistants are promised the equivalent of one month's salary — between $5,000 and $7,500 — if the football team qualifies for a postseason bowl. UH head coach June Jones does not receive a bonus under terms of the new contract he signed last year.
The UH bonuses usually are distributed no later than April. (Many Division I programs pay their bonuses within a month after the bowl game.)
The UH bonuses usually are preceded by a letter of notification. The assistant coaches have not received such a letter this year, meaning the bonuses probably will not be distributed during the fiscal year that ends June 30. UH coaches are paid on the fifth and 20th of every month.
Jones, who does not handle the bonuses, described the delay as an "internal situation. ... It's being handled."
As to when the athletic department will distribute the money, Jones said, the coaches have "gotten one (for) every bowl game."
Jones also said he is advocating pay raises for his assistant coaches. His assistants have not received a pay raise in Jones' five years as UH's head coach. "I've been lobbying, just as every (administrator) is lobbying for professors and teachers," he said.
The 19-sport athletic program is projected to lose $1,466,189 for the fiscal year that ends June 30, the third consecutive deficit budget.
Meanwhile, Jones said he likely will name Helton's replacement on the coaching staff on Aug. 1. Jones acknowledged that Dennis McKnight, UH's special teams coach in 1999 and 2000, is among the candidates. McKnight lives in San Diego, where he owns a car-cleaning business. He also is an assistant coach at Grossmont College.
Reach Stephen Tsai stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.
