University of Hawaii football coach Nick Rolovich will top $600,000 in compensation this season, making him one of the highest-paid state employees, and he could pass $650,000 by the end of his current contract.
The details, including a signing and retention bonus schedule, were released to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Tuesday under a state open records law request.
When Rolovich agreed to a two-year extension of his contract in January that will take him through the 2022 season and provides an opportunity to go through 2023, the base salary remained at $425,004.
But a one-time, lump sum signing bonus of $175,000 he was due in June takes him up to $600,004 before incentives.
At the halfway point in the regular season, he has already earned at least $15,000 in incentives with victories over Pac-12 teams Arizona and Oregon State.
While Rolovich’s base salary will remain at $425,004 through 2022 and, if he qualifies, 2023, he will also receive retention bonuses each month beginning in 2020. The amount will be $15,625 per month in 2020 for a total of $612,504 if he stays through the year. In 2023, the total would escalate to $650,004, according to the contract.
Jay Boughanem, a Hilo-based surgeon with the Hawaii Health System Corp., is listed on several salary surveys at $634,000. In the UH system, Jerris Hedges, dean and a professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, will be at $560,466 as of Nov. 1, according to a UH posting.
Greg McMackin was UH’s highest paid coach, receiving $1,138,504 in 2011 before being forced out. UH said the current salary range for the position is $392,142-$935,544 and had redacted Rolovich’s actual figures. But Rolovich agreed to make them public.
Even with the rise to $600,004 this year, Rolovich, who had been last in the 12-member Mountain West Conference in salary since taking the UH job, figures to rank no higher than ninth. Among 130 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools, Rolovich is expected to rank below 100th.
Rolovich guided UH to its first winning season in eight years last season and has taken the ’Bows to two bowl games. He is 4-2 this season and 22-24 overall.
Meanwhile, athletic director David Matlin and his associate ADs are among the UH system executive managers due raises next month.
According to a personnel action posting on the UH Board of Regents website, Matlin will receive a salary adjustment to $318,156 for the period Nov. 1, 2019-Oct. 31, 2020.
As of March 2019 his salary was listed at $300,228 on the website of the UH Professional Assembly, which monitors executive salaries. Matlin, who had been previously been executive director of the ESPN Events-owned Hawaii Bowl and Diamond Head Classic, was hired at a salary of $290,016 in 2015.
In March, Matlin received a three-year contract extension to 2023. At the time, UH President David Lassner said, “He has worked tirelessly to improve our program and the opportunities for our student-athletes.”
Lassner, who serves in a dual capacity as president and interim Manoa chancellor, will receive $395,004.
Associate ADs Carl Clapp, Lois Manin and Vince Baldemor are also due raises Nov. 1. They serve as “at-will” employees.
