The settlement with fired University of Hawaii men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold brought yet another troubling UH saga to a dissatisfying close.

Arnold will walk away free and clear, with $700,000 of the university’s money. He leaves behind a basketball program tarnished by an NCAA investigation and a rueful UH legal department with a mess of its own to clean up. The dispute eventually will cost UH nearly $1.1 million, including legal fees.

“It will be good to put this behind us,” said Robert Bley-Vroman, UH-Manoa chancellor.

No kidding.

And in the future, Bley-Vroman added, “I think it’s important for us to show our commitment to the highest levels of integrity and competence.”

He’s right on both counts.

This Arnold mess has cost enough time and resources. And in the wake of this dispute, UH’s reputation for integrity and competence sorely needs a makeover.

UH announced the termination of Arnold’s contract on Oct. 28, about three months before the NCAA cited the basketball program for seven rules violations — all of them for Level I or II offenses, the most severe of four categories.

UH blamed Arnold and his coaching staff for “intentional or careless failure to follow well-known bylaws” and for attempting to conceal the violations. UH agreed to vacate 36 victories, reduce scholarships and practice time, and place itself on a one-year probation.

In the wake of this mess, how did Arnold come out so well? Basically, it was a questionably worded contract.

Arnold’s contract allowed him to receive “a lump sum amount equal to the total amount of compensation earned under the terms of this Agreement as to the date of termination.” The clause easily could be read to mean that, if dismissed without cause, Arnold would get paid twice for the same work.

It sounds preposterous, and it is. It’s hard to believe that UH had this in mind when it signed the deal.

But Arnold claimed he was owed $1.4 million, and a divided UH Board of Regents, in an 8-6 vote, approved the settlement of $700,000 — $500,000 for Arnold and $200,000 for his lawyers. The settlement clears up all claims, including two prohibited-practice complaints before the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, a union grievance filed by Arnold, and a lawsuit brought by UH.

Carrie Okinaga, UH general counsel, said the settlement would be cheaper than going to trial and hashing everything out.

She’s probably right, and it makes sense to stem the bleeding. Memories are still fresh of the Stevie Wonder blunder, which reportedly cost UH roughly $1 million to deal with a $200,000 scam.

Okinaga also is right to take steps to ensure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again: At least two attorneys will review every athletics department contract; more emphasis will be placed on contract review; and some contract language will be standardized, hopefully the parts relating to the terms of contract termination.

Nonetheless, UH and Okinaga need to be more forthcoming. As far as is practicable, the controls Okinaga puts in place should be a matter of public record. So far, she has declined to explain how the unusual language was placed in Arnold’s contract, or who was responsible, saying it was “a personnel matter, internal to the university.”

Perhaps. But as should be obvious by now, a badly drafted contract can needlessly drain the public purse. The Gib Arnold fiasco also reflects badly on UH’s reputation, not only in athletics, but in the system at large. A reputation for sloppiness and incompetence hurts UH’s ability to attract and retain top-quality talent, from faculty to coaches to top administrators.

For these reasons and more, fixing the problems created by this fiasco — including the detailed guidelines for drafting athletics department contracts — is not just a matter “internal to the university.” The process is very much the public’s business, and should be treated as such.