Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
More than 26 months after it announced the turbulent termination of Gib Arnold, the University of Hawaii is scheduled to formally end its obligations to the former men’s basketball coach.
In the coming days UH is due, by agreement, to send Arnold a $200,000 check, the last payment on the parties’ 2015 settlement and a final chapter on the estimated $1.3 million tab comprising the most expensive coaching termination in the school’s history.
Under terms of the eight-page settlement UH was to pay Arnold $500,000 across three payments — $100,000 (Nov. 2015), $200,000 (Jan. 2016) and $200,000 (Jan. 2017) spreading his tax burden across three years — as well as pay his Honolulu attorney, James Bickerton, $200,000 (Nov. 2015) in one payment.
This is in addition to the payment to Arnold for the more than $200,000 remainder of $344,000 in salary plus bonuses on the original employment agreement that ran through June 30, 2015.
In return Arnold, who is listed by the Boston Celtics as a regional scout, and his union, the HGEA, agreed to drop all claims against the school arising from his Oct. 28, 2014, “without cause” firing and “physical injury” and “physical symptoms,” the extent of which were not disclosed in the filings. The school also agreed to drop a suit against Arnold.
UH announced Arnold’s dismissal amid what, at that point, had been a nearly seven-month NCAA investigation of the basketball team and ended his employment Jan. 26, 2015.
The NCAA investigation eventually led to seven allegations against the basketball program and a list of sanctions including a postseason ban, loss of scholarships, vacating of victories and a fine.
But, as we’ve come to learn, the penalty phase is never-ending. UH, which opens defense of its Big West Conference regular season title tonight in Fullerton, Calif., is still awaiting final word from the NCAA on whether the team will be eligible to compete for a place in the conference tournament in March and any other postseason possibilities.
The final payment to Arnold along with the settling of bills for its own legal representation and other costs associated with NCAA Case No. 00202 are estimated to total more than $1.2 million for UH.
As for Arnold, his NCAA-imposed penalties, which expire Dec. 21, 2018, are largely rendered moot while he is in the NBA.
He was handed a suspension equivalent to 30 percent (nine or 10 games) of the first season he coaches another NCAA-member institution and put under a three-year “show cause” order. That requires any school that chooses to employ him before the expiration date to demonstrate to the NCAA Committee on Infractions how it will monitor his activities and why it should not be penalized for hiring him.
Thirty-six victories from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons were ordered vacated for use of ineligible players. UH records now list Arnold’s record at the school as 36-55 overall and 14-31 in the Big West Conference.
In the meantime, only one scholarship player from the group that Arnold recruited that went on to propel the Rainbow Warriors to the school-record 28-6 2015-16 season, forward Mike Thomas, remains from his tenure. Thomas is redshirting this season.
While UH awaits final word on the NCAA sanctions, one of the few remaining visible signs of Arnold’s four-season reign in Manoa is the “All In” mini bus. The vehicle, with Arnold pictured exhorting his team on one side, abuts a storage container on the gravel lot between Klum Gym and the practice gyms.
80