Readers weigh in on Arnold’s contract extension
Howzit, Dave! I liked your editorial about the pay package for U.H. basketball coach.
Did you see the old movie “The Gauntlet” starring Clint Eastwood? I like comparing the main character (Clint) to Ben Cayetano who ran against Caldwell to stop the rail and corruption. The floodgates to uncontrolled development has been opened.
Ooops!
Anyway,I’m starting to compare you to Ben. Kinda like the Ben Cayetano of U.H. sports.
Keep up the good work!
Name withheld by request
Thank you for speaking out on what many of us out here are also scratching our collective heads about re. our basketball coach’s new contract and extension. We should all have such powerful, influential and, apparently, well-heeled friends. For all the reasons you so aptly listed, the reasons for the contract are highly questionable, especially in light of the ongoing NCAA investigation of the program. And if the finding of the investigation are negative, are we put in the position (again!) of having to buy yet another coach or administrator’s contract out or do we just suffer the embarrassment of yet another UH black eye?
Is it little wonder that we as taxpayers and sports fans are worn out by the ongoing saga of our University’s debacles and apparent lack of judgment? Enough already!
Douglas Miki
Dave,
Your commentary on Coach Arnold seems correct to me. It’s sort of a mystery to me why he has “downtown” support. The only thing I can think of is that he went to Punahou. But I don’t see how that particularly relates to basketball.
As a true mid major yet being considered the flagship campus of the state, the University of Hawaii is limited by the size and resources of us being small state. The financial crunch looms ahead, and I don’t know how it will play out.
Hank Chapin
(NOTE: The following letter was addressed to athletic director Ben Jay and chancellor Tom Apple and I was cc’d)
There is much criticism about Gib Arnold’s extension…I think people forget how badly the program was doing prior to Gib coming on…yes, I think Gib can do better but that is a topic for another day.
In order to have teams that are competitive, the coaches make a difference (I like the new hire’s resume’ under Arnold) but I think being competitive starts from the top…what are goals?…how do we get there?…where are we?…how do we get to where we want to go?…I think you are working hard to elevate UH to a place of excellence and for that I salute you!…thank you for coming to Hawaii to assist us….and I know that there are substantial road blocks to overcome when someone wishes to upgrade our culture…there is so much good about Hawaii that why change?..so anyone that wants to improve has an attitude to overcome…I think you will succeed, at least I hope so since you are here battling.
Improvement starts at the top with the Regents but at EVERY level some improvement can be made. Keep at it requesting the $’s to make improvements…it is a development syndrome…will you increase revenue before you can make improvements or do you have to make improvements in order to increase revenue?!…I think it is a boot strap effort where you ratchet up a bit here which allows upgrades there…you need good committed people in order to achieve this and hopefully the community will come along.
In order to have a first class university, a first class athletic program is necessary (athletics provide education and some of the esprit de corps of the school which bring the school together on a consistent basis and allows the community at large to participate…if we are to keep athletics and wish to be a first class institution, we should remain in division I…I do not think division 2 or 3 will reduce “losses”, and losses are against budget which if we want to be where we are, we have to change the budget and then find the resources within our community to fund the budget.
Change the budget and then assign various parts of the community to fund our share.
Aloha,
Leroy Y Uyehara
Coach Arnold is the best man for the job. We need to keep him if we are to improve. Your negative approach to every thing indicates that you are a very unhappy person.
You get what you pay for. If Gib continues to win 20 games and take the team to post-season tournament play, he’s worth it. Comparing Gib with Dave Shoji, Dave is way underpaid. Ben Jay, make Dave the highest paid women’s volleyball coach in America. How do we pay for all of this? Simple. Take it out of Norm’s salary. Until Norm wins like how June did with football guys, he doesn’t even deserve to be paid half as what he makes. Everybody’s happy when the team wins. Isn’t that true about life, too?
Great move to boost Coach “Bee Gees” Gib’s salary. Should start focusing on sports that make some actual leeway and, lo and behold, those tend to be indoor (ironically enough) [Tina] arena sports. And why the heck not? For home games, the Stan Sheriff’s right where it belongs — on a college campus.
Manti. Mariota. What? Are you gonna wait for two more horsemen whose names being with “M” to realize that Hawaii college football is on its way out?
Can’t stand the hoodlum-isms (that the Stan Sheriff never seems to get. Hmmm. Wonder why that is) — from hoodlums who probably can’t even SPELL “college” or “university” (especially in the state they’re in) — at the Aloha Stadium [and you’re gonna get the same hoodlumism at a “new” football stadium] and the farts who REFUSE to cheer just SITTING in their eternally saved season tickets seats.
Get rid of UH football already. Darned joke. If I had a son with football talent, wouldn’t him go UH-M.
Lack of judgement is not securing a good coach (who has improved winning and attendance) for another few years, despite the uncertain results of a witchhunt. Lack of judgement is hiring bad coaches who empty arenas and stadiums (ahem, Norm Chow…cough, Bob Nash). Or losing good coaches who fill stadiums because you didn’t want to sign them quickly enough (ahem, June Jones).
Seems like they grumble no matter what. If they didn’t give him an extension, and he has a fantastic season, then they will blame the AD too, so the AD had to make a decision one way or the other. Without a contract extension, then it would affect recruiting too, so it’s a double edged sword either way.
i don’t blame Gib. UH didn’t have to give him that much money. i mean, what is Gib going to do, say ” i’ll go somewhere else”? our administration is hopeless. as for Chow, he isn’t getting paid that much compared to what Mack was making. and lets face it, this is a make or break year for him. win or he’s out.
Fib had Gentle Ben at hello.
Ben couldn’t believe it when Fib first walked into his office and gazed lovingly deep into his eyes. Tall, pretty, Punahou-white with lips like cherries and a voice that spoke charms better than any used car salesman, Ben was immediately smitten with Fib.
This was the man he had come to Hawaii to find, and he knew it instantly.
Ben had a ticket he had gotten that morning, and Fib told him to just give him the form, and he’d have Akana fix it for him.
Fib had to leave for a fourth interview with the NCAA, and Ben, immediately worried about the stress Fib was surely feeling, offered Fib a hot oil massage – telling him that although he may have small Chinese hands, he was Bruce Lee strong and he could make Fib a berry berry heppy man.
Fib took a raincheck, and gave Gentle Ben an autographed photo, tussled his slicked back hair and then walked away.
Ben’s eyes followed Gib lovingly and as Fib walked out the door Ben called out “Don’t worry, Fib. Everything will be all right. We’ll never allow Dave to come to basketball practice again after that last column. And your check is in the mail, handsome.”
Why do some people shrug off an ongoing NCAA investigation like it is nothing? That is the most alarming thing to me. You may consider the NCAA a joke, but you may also consider law enforcement a joke .. guess who gets the last laugh, regardless.
I think UH will end up with a scholarship reduction or post season ban. Either or both
Considering how long this investigation is taking its obviously something serious
It amazes me that Arnold received this new contract. His teams play nobody.
Well, hope the upper campus folks and legal dept crafted the contract so that it protects UH , in case there are violations requiring dismissal , in that case it would be where coach is released from his contract with cause . We HOPE upper campus and lower campus learned from the McMackin debacle, Greenwood debacle, etc etc
We hope the upper campus folks and legal dept crafted the contract so that it protects UH , in case there are violations requiring dismissal ,there would then be cause
Mahalo Leroy Uyehara for your concerns. Are you an Iolani graduate?
Well. This doesn’t look good on our program, our university has been tainted. If sanctions given then Gib needs to go. That’s a no brainer and if Ben Hay doesn’t release the head coach then the BOR and President Lassner should fire the both of them with cause
If sanctions are imposed the president of the university should get rid if Gib and Ben Jay
i think with whats going on with Apple, the BOR and Lassner should all be fired. its like watching an afternoon soap opera. utterly ridiculous. also i would be surprised if the NCAA can come up with something serious enough to give UH more than a slap on the wrist. its already obvious that so far they have nothing and that is why they keep coming back saying they have more questions. questions about what? about a transcript that never was submitted? about practices that are too long? give me a break.