Senior night sets up as money time for Arnold

Win one for the Gibber?

The University of Hawaii men’s basketball team chases victory No. 20 Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center — and a lot more, if you are coach Gib Arnold.

And we’re just not talking about who gets to be the plum fourth seed in the Big West Conference Tournament next week in Anaheim, Calif.

It could be magic number time for Arnold under terms of his contract, which said he will receive an "automatic one-year extension" of a deal rounding into its final stages if the 19-10 Rainbow Warriors win 20 games or more in the current season.

He could have secured the additional year with "18 or 19" victories and a Sagarin strength of schedule ranking of 185 or better. But the ‘Bows are No. 198 and there is almost no way it would move up 13 spots with a loss to  Cal State Fullerton (11-18).

He could also have clinched the extra season by finishing first or second in the regular-season standings, but with an 8-7 conference record heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale, that isn’t happening, either.

So that leaves reaching the Big West championship game or earning a berth to the NIT or NCAA as automatic rollovers. All still possibilities, of course, but with the rebuilding Titans in town, and no Sagarin rating tied to it, the best shot at that rollover is winning No. 20 right here and right now, barring new terms kicking in first.

Ironically, it comes as an added incentive to beat the team of the man who hired him at UH, Jim Donovan, now the Titans’ athletic director. Though, we are told, the incentive clauses in the contract were the curious doing of a previous Board of Regents trying to make up for Bachman Hall’s bumbling of Arnold’s original deal.

Talk about "Moneyball," either way that would be another round of $294,000, the highest listed base salary in the Big West at the currently contracted rate. Arnold also would be due a $50,000 so-called "overload" payment that is said to be anted up by booster donations.

The 18-, 19- and 20-win clauses that have been part of Arnold’s deal for three seasons, are said to be unique among UH coaches and do not replace run-of-the-mill bonuses for benchmarks like being named conference coach of the year and advancement in the NCAA Tournament. You can hardly blame Arnold for snapping them up or being reluctant to see them go as new boilerplate language is being drawn up across the athletic department.

Hopefully, they will disappear as a concept from UH, never to be seen again when the new round of offer sheets athletic director Ben Jay is circulating go into force.

In the meantime, the ‘Bows can do their coach a big favor on senior night.

Not that if you are UH, a program that has had a 20-loss season more recently (2009-10) than its last 20-victory or better campaign (2003-04), there should be any need for incentive at this point in the year.

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