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(UWIRE) HONOLULU -- When June Jones signed on with the University of Hawai'i Warrior football team in 1999, he had dirty work ahead of him. The Rainbow Warriors played like a high school football team, getting thrashed on the field and suffering an 18-game losing streak. But Jones turned the Rainbows into Warriors, curing the team of its losing epidemic to earn them a 9-4 season the next year.
Jones, who was Hawai'i's highest-paid state employee before he left, changed the future of UH football through his coaching tactics. He didn't realize he would become such a commodity when he signed on with Hawai'i, however, and agreed to sign a "buyout" contract, which would penalize him if he ever decided to switch teams before the contract expired. And maybe he never planned to leave, but there is a price for everyone, even Hawai'i's beloved coach.
When he left earlier this year for Southern Methodist University, Jones incurred a $400,000 debt for leaving UH, which is half of his earnings for the year. Jones left in the wake of the greatest football season Hawai'i has ever seen, but his reasons for leaving are understandable. Who wouldn't hang up their Aloha shirt for $2 million a year?
When the day comes for disappointed fans to forget the abandonment, people will realize that Jones' complaints were accurate. The neglect the government has showed to UH in the past is borderline criminal, and the athletic facilities are not the only buildings on the ancient campus that are rotting away.
In truth, it was our state government's fault that Jones left the school. It is only now, after lawmakers came to see the state of decay for themselves, that they decided to allocate $600 million toward necessary repairs at UH.
Meanwhile, UH officials want to strip Jones of the salary he rightfully deserves. Put simply, the school is denying Jones the money he earned for his participation in UH's most successful season ever. Granted, he has an impressive new salary at SMU, but the fact is that Jones shouldn't be paying a penalty for the school's shortcomings.
Consider this: The Warriors, who already supply 17 to 22 percent of the entire athletic department's income, made $960,000 more this past season than the previous year while playing fewer home games. They also received $2.2 million for their participation in the Sugar Bowl, a check that was written out to UH and not just the athletic department. The team has packed thousands of fans into Aloha Stadium and doubled the amount of single-game tickets sold, while the attendance rates in other UH sports are going down. Not since the '80s have so many come out to support the team, and Jones' coaching did all of this.
But all of this profit still wasn't enough for the school, so they are going after him too. Yes, the contract was binding and contractual agreements should be obeyed, but seeing all that the man has done for the program, how much he has already earned for the school, and how little support he had, is enough to convince me that this penalty should be waved.
Instead, former athletic director Herman Frazier should be footing the bill for Jones and for his lack of commitment to the program. After all, the department he chaired is in a financial crisis with about $4 million in debt, a debt Frazier drastically downplayed.
Jones was a great coach. Punishing him is wrathful and wrong. But we live in the 21st century, when the only morals that really speak are the ones with dollar signs attached.
(C) 2008 Ka Leo O Hawaii via U-WIRE
