If intriguing rumors are a fringe benefit of success, the University of Hawai'i football team and UH athletic director Herman Frazier are reaping some impressive spoils.

In a brief but wide-ranging interview with the Advertiser yesterday, Frazier addressed claims/rumors/speculation that 1) June Jones is a candidate for the vacant head coaching position at UCLA; 2) he himself is a candidate for the AD position at Washington; and 3) he interviewed for another job while in New York for the Heisman Award announcement.

Frazier even found time to respond to criticism about his handling of the Sugar Bowl tickets.

Jones himself denied the UCLA rumor on Monday, calling a Los Angeles Daily News story that he had expressed interest in the job "an absolute lie."

The job became available when Karl Dorrell was fired after going 35-27 over five seasons. Boise State's Chris Petersen has also been mentioned in connection with the job.

Frazier said he has not been contacted by UCLA or any other school regarding Jones.

"In most of these types of situations, (they'll) call the athletic director," Frazier said. "You don't have to give them permission, but they'll at least call you and talk to you."

Still, Frazier is aware of Jones' attractiveness in the marketplace.

"Who wouldn't want to talk to June Jones?" he said. "He's an outstanding football coach. He's done a terrific job here in the state of Hawai'i and when you have success like we've had these things are always going to pop up."

Frazier downplayed Jones' contract extension, arguing that having a coach under contract still wouldn't stem the tide of speculation.

"If he had a contract extension or not, his name's going to pop up," Frazier said. "Chris Petersen did a terrific job at Boise (State) last year. Just signed a new contract and his name pops up. When you sustain that kind of excellence in your sport, that's going to happen. If you do the job you're supposed to do, your name is going to pop up."

Frazier has repeatedly stated that he will not "negotiate June's contract through the media."

Frazier said he heard about the resignation of Washington AD Todd Turner via an email forwarded to him through an athletic directors committee of which he is a member. He said he received the message, addressed from Turner to his staff, yesterday morning as he was writing a thank-you letter to Washington head coach Ty Willingham.

Frazier was a candidate for the Washington AD job nearly four years ago.

"I don't think the ink is dry on the email for anyone to even be discussing who's going to go to Washington," Frazier said.

Frazier also denied that he used his trip to New York for the Heisman Award presentation to pursue another job.

"Absolutely false," Frazier said, laughing. "Absolutely did not interview for any jobs in New York."

Frazier noted that rumors of his imminent departure have circulated for as long as he's been in Hawai'i.

"When I was on the Olympic Committee, everybody had me going to the committee as a full-time employee," he said. " I came off the Olympic Committee board and that stopped. I don't know that there are any other AD jobs open other than the one that opened today (in Washington).

"I'm not looking for a position," he added. "I've got several years left on my contract here and it's been fun."

What hasn't been fun for Frazier has been the wave of criticism generated by his underestimation of how many UH fans were interested in attending the Sugar Bowl, which features UH vs. Georgia, Jan. 1, 2008 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

A popular question on talk radio and online message boards has been why Frazier didn't survey season-ticket holders to gauge their interest in making the trip. Such a survey, critics have argued, would have provided a ballpark figure that Frazier could have considered before returning 4,000 of the 17,500 tickets UH was allotted.

UH was able to get back 1,500 tickets, but the demand still exceeds the supply.

Frazier said surveying season-ticket holders likely would have yielded misleading data.

"You can do the survey, but how sound is it?" Frazier said. " I'm sure if I did a survey everybody would say, 'Yeah, I want to go.' But everybody can't go. You aren't going to find many people who are going to say no on a survey, especially when they're as enthusiastic as they've been."

Frazier said his staff is still "scouring throughout the nation" for tickets, and he is confident that UH will be able to secure enough to accommodate those still on a waiting list of season-ticket holders.

"A decision was made and it wasn't very popular, but it was made," Frazier said. "It's one that we have rebounded from in some respects by being able to have over 15,000 seats that have been allocated toward the University of Hawai'i. Being able to rebound with that kind of number makes us feel a whole lot better. I think the demand was unbelievable for people wanting to go to the game.

"At the end of the day, it looks like we're going to be able to service all of the people who were involved in this from a season-ticket point of view who put their names on the lists that were compiled."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.