UH prepared to pony-up $1.2 million for new coach

[Pony^]

HONOLULU -- The president of the University of Hawaii said on Thursday that he is prepared to offer up to $1.2 million a year to a new head football coach.

The amount is the same approved for June Jones. Jones announced on Monday that he has accepted the job to lead Southern Methodist University's team.

At the Board of Regents meeting President David McClain said the school will not rely as heavily on private donations to fund the new coach's contract.

"We will use a flexible mix of general funds, athletic department (funds), revolving funds and donations. We want to move quickly to find and to negotiate, and to announce a new football coach," McClain said.

McClain said the school will use a "flexible mix" of funding because when booster club Na Koa got more than $800,000 in pledges for Jones' contract, Na Koa was only able to collect about half of that.

Earlier in the meeting, the regents honored the football team for its undefeated season. Jones did not attend. Secondary coach Rich Miano and linebacker Adam Leonard stood in.

http://www.kitv.com/news/15030567/detail.html

Are they leaking this story to attract higher quality candidates, or do they want to pay McMackin $400k more than they paid Jones?

[Dutch]

UH is in a tough position. yeah, $1.2 is a nice annual paycheck, but they're going to have to find someone who is either so young he doesn't have kids and can move out there or someone who's so old his kids are out of the house. moving family from one of the lower 48 to another is one thing, but displacing your family a minimum of 13 hours from all they've known is a difficult decision.

i did chuckle about the booster club getting $800k in pledges and only being able to collect half. it's easy to knee-jerk, but when the bank (or wife) calls, you had better have a handle on your ability to pay up.
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[Insane_Pony_Posse]

I hear Terry Bowden may be a candidate!

[Fried Ahi]

I hear Terry Bowden may be a candidate!

Big name guys like that will not work out in Hawaii because one important thing they will need to understand is the culture. What works on the mainland may not necessarily work on the islands. Some of the candidates that have the necessary ties or understanding were the five listed in JJ's letter plus current assistants like Greg McMackin or Jeff Reinebold. There are some other lesser know folks like Brian Cabral at Colorado (who isn't applying because he isn't ready to go back home yet), Dino Babers (RB coach at UCLA), Rich Ellerson at Cal Poly just to name a few that would also match that criteria but they'd be up against some stiff competition.

McMackin currently has huge support by the boosters and fans but Kevin Gilbride has also expressed that he is very serious about the position. McMackin despite being associated with the defense also worked under Mouse Davis with JJ, Wes Suan, Ron Lee,and Craig Howard (the same one who coached Tim Tebow at Neese) and knows the R&S (he ran that while the coach at Oregon Tech) and Gilbride is also a master of the R&S so he would not lose any ground with the offensive personnel currently there. So those are the two top guys for the position as that will probably be one of the important criteria the search committee will be looking for. Norm Chow on the otherhand has remained silent and I doubt he has any chance anyway because he has enough personality quirks that doesn't make him good HC material and probably why no one has picked him up in that capacity. Plus Hawaii currently doesn't have the personnel to run Chows offense effectively until they recruit those positions. They (Hawaii) want to hit the ground running with the players they already have.

[George S. Patton]

It would appear that Pony^ has an obssession with all things Hawaii. Just go for a vacation and get it out of your system. I'm really to the point that I no longer care what they're doing.

I wish them well in the future, but this posting of everything over there is getting a little ridiculous.

I think Jones leaving is the best thing that could happen over there because it showed all of the warts and if this program is really going to take off in all aspects, everyone needed to have a "Come to Jesus" moment.

My interpretation of this is that Jones' success masked a lot of the problems over there. By leaving, he gives that school a chance to do things athletically the right way.

[Pony^]

I think Jones leaving is the best thing that could happen over there because it showed all of the warts and if this program is really going to take off in all aspects, everyone needed to have a "Come to Jesus" moment.

My interpretation of this is that Jones' success masked a lot of the problems over there. By leaving, he gives that school a chance to do things athletically the right way.

I agree with your assessment.

At this point, what Hawaii does, affects us. I think they are trying to generate interest among some big name coaches. This, in turn, could determine whether McMackin comes to SMU.

[George S. Patton]

I think Jones leaving is the best thing that could happen over there because it showed all of the warts and if this program is really going to take off in all aspects, everyone needed to have a "Come to Jesus" moment.

My interpretation of this is that Jones' success masked a lot of the problems over there. By leaving, he gives that school a chance to do things athletically the right way.

I agree with your assessment.

At ths point, what Hawaii does affects us. I think they are trying to generate interest among some big name coaches. This, in turn, could determine whether McMackin comes to SMU.

From what I understand, Jones has all but 2 positions pretty much completed. I don't have names. But I'm sure McMackin is one of the two depending on how this goes.

[Treadway21]

How long until UH makes a decision?

[George S. Patton]

How long until UH makes a decision?

I guess there are some reports out there saying next week.

[Pony Soup]

Job was posted on Jan 8. By law, hire cannot be made until the 18th.

http://workatuh.hawaii.edu/zoom_job.php?8847

[FWMustangGirl]

Job was posted on Jan 8. By law, hire cannot be made until the 18th.

http://workatuh.hawaii.edu/zoom_job.php?8847

I heard something somewhere about the possibility of them getting a waiver on that timeframe. I could be wrong though.

[Pony Soup]

I am sure they can "have their guy," leak it to the press, and let him start his thing but I doubt they will make it official before next weekend. Whatever "official" means....

[smu diamond m]

I am sure they can "have their guy," leak it to the press, and let him start his thing but I doubt they will make it official before next weekend. Whatever "official" means....

I'm just glad SOMEONE has to get a coach after us.