Even before entering the Iao Needle room Sunday night, the point was already made. Greg McMackin would not be exiting the meeting as Hawaii’s head football coach.
That decision was sealed even before the Warriors lost their regular-season finale Saturday to finish 6-7, their third nonwinning season in McMackin’s four-year tenure, according to people familiar with the situation.
McMackin had an overall winning record, at 29-25, and fostered an atmosphere emphasizing academics.
Athletic director Jim Donovan said: "Coach Mack is a good man, and I won’t ever say anything bad about him."
The driving force for change was rooted in money — McMackin’s annual salary of $1.1 million, which was agreed upon in a time of prosperity and desperation, and the anticipated decline in football-related revenue.
After the team’s awards banquet at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, McMackin was summoned to a meeting with Donovan and Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw in the hotel’s Iao Needle room. For the next 90 minutes, they negotiated an exit plan for McMackin.
McMackin agreed to forego $500,000 of the $1.1 million he was owed on a five-year contract that expires Jan. 15, 2013. At issue was the distribution: Pay McMackin $1.1 million, and then have him donate $500,000 to Na Koa, the football booster club, or pay him only $600,000 as a buyout.
It was decided to go with the latter option. The sides then signed a retirement agreement.
The arrangement gives UH some flexibility in hiring a new head coach, and slight relief as it faces financial obstacles.
UH is leaving the Western Athletic Conference to join the Mountain West Conference in July. As a result, UH will forfeit its share of WAC revenue accrued this academic year.
The Warriors have agreed to pay travel subsidies between $150,000 and $175,000 to each visiting Mountain West football opponent in 2012. They currently do not pay any travel subsidies.
This year, UH will receive $2.45 million from its share of pay–per-view sales, roughly the same amount it earned last year. But that pay-per-view arrangement is in jeopardy because the Mountain West has superseding television deals with CBS Sports, the mtn. and Versus.
A greater concern is the prognosis for home attendance.
UH sold 20,959 season tickets for football this year, 31 fewer than the previous year. But compared to 2010, the average for tickets distributed dropped from 36,402 per home game to 31,784 this year. The decline in turnstile average went from 33,835 last year to 28,194 this year.
The concern was that the drop in walk-up sales might lead to a decline in season-ticket renewals.
And while UH implemented a student fee of $50 each per semester, the $828,205 it generated falls under a category separate from ticket sales.
The numbers added up to McMackin’s departure.
