Arnold’s contract appears to be lost in a black hole

Officially, it is known as Bachman Hall, the administrative headquarters of the University of Hawaii system.

Unofficially, it has a reputation as a black hole, the labyrinthine ivory tower at University Avenue and Dole Street where contracts have been known to disappear for months, if not die slow deaths altogether.

Somewhere in its vast recesses, the proposed contracts for several UH coaches, most notably at the moment, men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold, were last sighted, according to reports.

But, then, that was a while ago and it is anybody’s guess when, where or even if they might reemerge.

History suggests that wherever they are, continued delay is neither a good sign nor a prudent policy.

IT WILL BE remembered that Arnold’s first contract went into Bachman Hall and never came out, and the school, in another one of those only-at-UH episodes, paid dearly for its dithering.

Arnold had signed a one-page major terms agreement the day (March 19, 2010) he was introduced as the UH coach, a position that was to pay him $240,000 per season for three years. Meanwhile, UH was to draw up a complete contract "dotting all the I’s and crossing the T’s."

But, for reasons that have never been fully made clear, the contract never progressed. It languished somewhere in Bachman Hall while language in the deal was parsed over, eventually collecting dust.

Meanwhile, in the season that started seven months later, Arnold’s team went a surprising 19-13. More than a year after setting foot at UH, Arnold still lacked a completed contract.

But he had something better for a first-year coach, leverage. And Nov. 30, 2011 — 20 months after arrival –Arnold signed a renegotiated 18-page retroactive deal worth $344,000 per season, plus some lucrative, easy-to-attain bonuses.

FAST FORWARD to July 1, 2013, when negotiations — as mandated by the contract — officially began on an extension that was to have reined in some of those give-away bonuses while providing Arnold with the extended security he sought.

All of which was to have been signed, sealed and delivered before the start of the 2013-14 season. Then, it was to have been done by Thanksgiving … Christmas … and be heralded for recruiting. All the while key parties maintained it was a "done" deal except for upper-level approval.

Of course, as of Monday, nothing had been announced on any of the coaches, raising even more questions. Has there been a disconnect or buyer’s (or seller’s) remorse on Arnold’s terms? Or, is the UH bureaucracy lollygagging again?

MEANWHILE, the Rainbow Warriors, who are 11-3 entering Thursday’s Big West Conference opener, are off to their best start since the 2003-04 season.

Knowing how things can go at UH, with each passing day and ‘Bows victory, we are increasingly left to wonder what has been learned from the past.

———

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.