Posted on: Friday, January 21, 2005

UH coaches get 2003 bowl bonuses

Advertiser Staff

For the University of Hawai'i football team's assistant coaches, the checks are in the mailbox.

After a 13-month delay, the coaches yesterday received bonuses for the Warriors' participation in the 2003 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Next month, the nine assistant coaches will receive bonuses for the 2004 Hawai'i Bowl.

The full-time assistant coaches — including Tyson Helton, who coached the UH special teams in 2003 — were promised the equivalent of one month's salary if the Warriors qualify for a postseason bowl. The bonus system was implemented in 1993 to compensate the coaches for the extra work in preparing for a bowl.

Based on the staff's pay scale, the bonuses for the 2003 bowl ranged from $5,000 to $8,333 per coach.

Most Division I-A football programs distribute bonuses within a month after the bowl, deducting money from the participation fee.

When the Warriors qualified for the O'ahu Bowl in 1999 and Hawai'i Bowl in 2002, the bonuses were paid within four months after those games.

But UH officials did not withhold money for the bonuses from the 2003 Hawai'i Bowl. Because of slumping finances, the athletic department was not able to pay out the bonuses during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2004.

UH apparently saved enough from the 2004 Hawai'i Bowl to pay for the bonuses. Last month, UH president David McClain authorized distribution of the bonuses.

The bonuses were included in the coaches' regular semi-monthly paychecks. UH employees are paid on the 5th and 20th of every month.

While pleased with finally receiving the bonuses, the full-time assistant coaches were instructed not to comment publicly about the payment.

NOTES

UH soccer star Natasha Kai, a member of the U.S. under-21 national soccer team, will be a guest instructor at this weekend's Hawai'i Speed & Quickness clinic on the UH campus. For a $10 fee, each participant receives a Jamba Juice coupon and instruction in plyometrics, resistance running and speed and agility techniques. The clinic is divided into sessions for ages 7-12 (8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and 13-and-older (10:30 a.m. to noon). Sessions will be held Saturdays and Sundays through June. For details, call 739-5444 or log on to: www.hawaiispeedandquickness.com.