Officials discuss UH football coaches’ future

In all the discussion about the termination of University of Hawaii men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold on Tuesday at the state Capitol, football coach Norm Chow’s situation wasn’t far away.

The state House Higher Education Committee spent nearly three hours probing the yearlong process that led to Arnold’s settlement earlier this month.

Though Chow’s name wasn’t directly mentioned, interspersed were questions from legislators to UH officials about how much the next football coach should be paid, future buyouts, Athletic Director David Matlin’s mechanism for firing a coach, double-paying for coaching transitions and whether the urgency tied to recruiting should be a factor in deciding when a coach is terminated.

Chow, whose win-loss record is 10-35 (4-24 in the Mountain West Conference), is completing the fourth year of a five-year contract, and speculation is rampant that he will be fired at some point after UH clinches a fifth consecutive losing season.

The Rainbow Warriors are 2-6 entering Saturday’s game with Air Force at Aloha Stadium and will be doomed to a losing season and rendered bowl-ineligible should they lose once more.

State Rep. Matthew LoPresti (D, Ewa Villages-Ocean Pointe-Ewa Beach) questioned whether coaches’ salaries should be more than double that of the faculty average. “Why not lead the nation in trying to find someone that, as (UH President) David Lassner mentioned, who is excited to be here because they are committed to the institution. It’s not about the money. I’m quite confident that we could find someone who is confident and capable to lead a Division I school for a reasonable sum that is not millions of dollars.”

Chow, whose annual base salary is $550,000, would be due $200,000 if UH buys out his final year. But officials have said terminating him prior to Jan. 1, when his final year begins, could cost as much as $500,000 once his benefits and assistant coaches are factored in, depending on the date of the action.

The assistant coaches’ contracts expire March 30.

In questioning Matlin about the importance of timing terminations to salvage recruiting for certain sports, committee Chairman Isaac Choy (D, Manoa-Punahou-Moiliili) asked, “Football is one of them, right?”

The answer was not forthcoming.

Matlin, who has hired one head coach but has yet to fire anyone in his six months at UH, said that when the time came, his process would include a thorough review of the contract and conferring with the school’s general counsel office and human resources officials.

In addition, Matlin pledged he would do his best to “do things in a dignified manner … because these are people’s lives. Not just the head coach, but it is the assistant coaches, too.”

Choy cautioned against buyouts, saying, “Every dollar we use for this type of (buyout) takes away money from the kids.”