UH coaches’ contracts on hold

Basketball coach Gib Arnold and some University of Hawaii coaches who have been waiting for more than a year for new contracts will have to wait a while longer, officials said.

As many as 12 contracts that had been put on Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple’s desk for final approval prior to his announced dismissal last month have been sent back to the athletic department for revision, a Manoa campus spokeswoman said.

"The term sheet extensions for the head coaches have not yet been signed. The Athletics Department is currently revising language in the term sheets," UH said in response to questions from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Negotiations on some contracts began in July of 2013 and some coaches had signed their term sheets six or seven months ago. All had reportedly gone to Apple.

In the wake of the on-going NCAA investigation of the men’s basketball program, UH officials had reviewed "for cause" termination clauses especially with an eye toward the new levels the NCAA now uses to categorize infractions.

But athletic director Ben Jay denied NCAA infraction language was the holdup.

"We had looked at the current language in the full form agreements and, now, we’re of the opinion it might not be necessary to change anything in there," Jay said. "The full form pretty much addresses ‘for cause’ reasons, some of which can be for NCAA infractions."

Arnold has a three-year extension of his contract pending as well as a $21,000-a-year raise to $365,000, plus bonuses.

Other coaches, including women’s basketball coach Laura Beeman, men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade and baseball coach Mike Trapasso have extensions pending.

The UH statement said, "Upon approval from the University and HGEA, the revised term sheets will be presented to the head coaches for review and signature. All head coaches whose contracts have expired are operating under the terms of their old contract agreements."

Jay said, "We’ll go month-to-month until the new deals are ready."