A worker put in for overtime for 15 minutes toiled beyond the normal call of duty. He was entitled to it, according to the written rule of his union contract. This same employee often shut it down early if no work remained that had to be done right then, but still got paid for the full day.
His boss approved the OT, and then uttered one of the truest and funniest things ever said: "No one ever requests undertime."
It’s just human nature, and it happens at all levels of employment. Nobody says, "I really didn’t do very much and I didn’t do it very well this pay period. Please take back some of this money."
Not to suggest University of Hawaii basketball coach Gib Arnold doesn’t work hard; he busts his okole. But don’t expect him to refund any of his pay after completing his second season with an overall disappointing 16 wins and 16 losses. He’s human, and humans don’t do that.
Arnold’s initial base salary of $240,000 per year was bumped up to $344,000 after his Rainbow Warriors finished 19-13 in 2010-11. Optimism reigned following Arnold’s first year, which ended with the most wins since 2003-04 and the first postseason appearance in seven years.
He received a 43 percent raise after that first, successful season. We can debate if it was deserved, but we can agree it is substantial. I think a nice, hefty bonus would have sufficed.
Break it down to dollars per win and it comes out to $18,105. Multiply that by 16 for the number of victories this season, and Arnold’s pay for next year should be $289,680.
That logic works if we’re talking about the salary being based solely on the accomplishments of the season just completed. But in agreeing to such a sizable annual bump (even with $50,000 of it coming anonymously from Arnold supporters) it’s clear that UH sees Arnold as a long-term solution — a coach who can take the program to its first NCAA Tournament win and beyond.
It’s a bet on the future. But it looked a lot better four months ago, when the new deal was agreed upon, than it does now.
Yes, the way UH bounced back from five straight losses to win a WAC quarterfinal game with a depleted team is encouraging. And it turned what could have been a losing season into merely a non-winning one, 16-16.
Arnold did something right in reviving a broken team, one that some were whispering he had lost.
But step back and look at the season as a whole, compared to the preceding one.
In 2010-11, the Rainbow Warriors got better as the season progressed. This edition did not. Five of its first nine losses were by five points or fewer. In six of its last seven losses, the average deficit was 19 points.
You could say that shooting guard Zane Johnson being ill was a factor. But the biggest difference all season was defense.
In Arnold’s first year, UH was rightfully proud of its .389 opponents’ field-goal percentage — one of the best in the country.
This season, that number was .429, and the Rainbows allowed 74.6 points per game compared to 67.2 the season prior.
Arnold was right in building his team on a foundation of defense. But that base cracked this season. Among other things, the step lost in defense in 2011-12 must be corrected for Arnold to earn his big raise.
True UH fans want to see him succeed and earn all those incentives, too.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.
