HONOLULU - The University of Hawaii released details of football coach June Jones' original contract for the first time Monday, more than four years after it was signed. <br>
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The university is complying with an order by the state Office of Information Practices to disclose both Jones' original contract and his new five-year, $4 million agreement. Jones is a former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. <br>
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Athletic director Herman Frazier said the latest contract, approved by the university's Board of Regents in June, will be released in its entirety when it's signed by Jones. <br>
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Jones previously said he wouldn't sign the contract until he received assurances that some details would remain confidential. He also said he was promised that his original contract would remain closed under a verbal agreement between him and former athletic director Hugh Yoshida, and expected the same with his new deal. <br>
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The secrecy has drawn public scrutiny and media attention, and some also questioned the high salary given to Jones in his newest contract, which pays him a base of $800,000 per year and will make him the highest-paid public employee in the state. <br>
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Jones earned a base salary of $210,000 per year under the contract effective Dec. 31, 1998, to Dec. 30, 2003. He also received a housing allowance of $40,000 and an additional $70,000 per year in collateral income from radio and television, bringing the total to $320,000. <br>
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He also was allowed to earn additional income from football camps or clinics. <br>
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Under terms of the contract, Jones also received: two courtesy cars, a minimum of 30 ``prime sideline'' season football tickets and a minimum of six season tickets for all other Hawaii sports, two parking passes to the university's Manoa campus and six for Aloha Stadium, 10 round-trip coach tickets to anywhere in the United States every year, and private school tuition for his two children. <br>
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Jones' performance incentives included a bonus worth one month's salary ($17,500) for every victory over six in any season. Based on that figure, Jones earned a bonus of $52,500 in 1999, $52,500 in 2001 and $70,000 last season. <br>
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There also was a $10,000 annual bonus if first-year scholarship players received a 2.7 grade-point average or higher. <br>
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Jones' contract was disclosed after several news agencies, including both Honolulu newspapers, requested it under Hawaii's open records law. <br>
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Frazier said he kept Jones' latest contract undisclosed because he was, ``operating under the same auspices as the old contract.'' <br>
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``We were not trying to hide anything at all,'' Frazier said. ``It's no big deal.'' <br>
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Jones is 30-21 since 1999 and has led the Warriors to bowl games in two of the past four seasons. Before arriving at Hawaii, Jones coached the NFL's Falcons, and was interim coach of the San Diego Chargers in 1998.
