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A term sheet outlining the University of Hawaii’s settlement with former basketball coach Gib Arnold was sealed in Circuit Court on Tuesday, pending a vote of the school’s Board of Regents on Thursday.
The terms, when approved by the Board of Regents at its Maui meeting, are expected to provide Arnold with a high six-figure settlement, the largest ever granted a former UH athletic department employee.
Attorneys declined comment on financial terms, but it is UH policy that all settlements in excess of $500,000 must be approved by the Regents. The largest settlement granted to a former UH athletic department employee was $600,000 to ex-football coach Greg McMackin in 2011.
Attorneys for UH, Arnold and the Hawaii Government Employees Association, which represents the ex-coach in a grievance with the school, met in chambers with Judge Karl Sakamoto for nine minutes to advise him of the tentative settlement.
Attorneys said the settlement will cover all issues of the nearly year-long case but declined to comment on specifics.
UH fired Arnold on Oct. 28, 2014 without cause amid an NCAA inquiry into the men’s basketball program.
Under provisions of the “without cause” clause of his contract, Arnold filed a grievance in February claiming UH owed him $1.4 million.
In June UH filed a suit in Circuit Court claiming he failed to repay approximately $2,000 from a travel advance. Arnold’s attorneys subsequently sought to have the suit dismissed.
UH and Arnold are scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Thursday in Dallas to answer seven allegations of violations of NCAA rules by the men’s basketball program.