Former men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold has filed a grievance against the University of Hawaii, claiming a violation of his employment agreement, the school said Thursday.
Athletic director Ben Jay said notice of the grievance, dated Feb. 3, has been forwarded to UH attorneys for review.
UH coaches are represented by the HGEA.
An attorney for Arnold referred questions about the grievance to UH.
William McCorriston, outside counsel for the school, said the contention is UH violated section 8 of the contract, the portion dealing with termination by the university.
Arnold claimed in a statement Tuesday that he was owed $1.4 million by the university, not just the balance of his $344,000 base salary from the 2014-15 season that UH said he was due Jan. 26.
McCorriston said, “everybody is focusing on section 8, but the contract has to be read as a whole and there are many different provisions and the provision which is paramount in this contract is paragraphs “a,” “b” and “c,” which require Coach Arnold to comply with the laws of the NCAA and its regulations and protocols.”
McCorriston added, “if the notice of allegations received from the NCAA is correct, in whole or in part, it would be a violation of the contract. That provision — and the breach of it — would have to be considered along with any obligations, which may or may not exist, in section 8.”
McCorriston contends, “if the NCAA allegations are at all correct, the University of Hawaii will suffer a large magnitude of damages, including all the fees in investigating and defending the university against the (NCAA) allegations, including any punishment or penalties the NCAA may impose on the athletic department, including damage to its reputation.”
McCorriston also explained the June departure of Darolyn Lendio, university’s general counsel “has nothing to do with this controversy.”
“She had given her notice before this became an issue.”
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, the Honolulu Star Advertiser.