Fiscal year lightens financial load at UH athletic department

Beginning Wednesday the University of Hawaii athletic department turns a pricey page on its financial ledger.

In short order no longer will it be simultaneously paying two athletic directors, carrying the fiscal burden of three men’s basketball head coaches and four assistants.

As the new fiscal year dawns, former AD Ben Jay and ex-basketball coach Benjy Taylor will have officially left the payroll Tuesday, while former assistant coach Senque Carey comes off the books July 14, UH said.

They are the final remnants of a staff overlapping resulting from a tumultuous — and still on-going — 15-month NCAA investigation that threatens to become the most expensive chapter in UH athletics.

The reshuffling that began with the Oct. 28, 2014 “without cause” dismissals of head coach Gib Arnold and assistant Brandyn Akana is almost concluded, but there is no immediate end in sight to the checks UH is writing in what has the potential to become a $2 million episode.

Taylor’s former associate head coach salary was “modified” to reflect his ascension to head coach, while Arnold officially remained employed through Jan. 26, 2015, and then received a lump sum payment “for the remainder of his contract term set to expire June 30,” UH has said.

All of it contributing to estimates of a $3.8 million-$4 million department deficit for the fiscal year ending Tuesday.

Still to be determined, through pending litigation and a grievance procedure, is how much of a $1.4 million claim Arnold might receive down the road.

Jay’s departure in the shadow of the department shakeup was announced Dec. 9, though he remains on the payroll through Tuesday, UH has said. Jay and his successor, David Matlin, overlapped for about two months, a period that, according to their posted salaries, cost a total of $48,585 per month.

Meanwhile, Taylor and Carey, the last coach hired by Arnold, contractually remained on the payroll even as new head coach Eran Ganot came aboard April 9 and hired assistants Norm Parrish, Adam Jacobsen and Chris Acker.

Two other assistants added to fill out Taylor’s interim staff in November, Brad Autry and Brandon Loyd, had been on renewable 89-day casual hire agreements through the season.

But if UH is trimming the coaches and administrators getting paychecks, its roster of attorneys has not shrunk. The Alabama law firm that represents the school in NCAA matters has billed UH $71,156 through March 31, a spokesman said.

Honolulu William McCorriston, who represents UH in Arnold’s grievance and court cases, has billed the school $86,751 through March 31, a spokesman said. Another attorney, former Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett, has been hired by UH to represent athletic department compliance director Amanda Paterson.

Additionally, UH was to pay a Kansas City attorney approximately $14,000 for work done on Arnold’s behalf concerning the NCAA investigation.

Come Wednesday UH opens a new fiscal year, but it remains to be seen how much of 2015 it can put behind it.

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