If there is one thing the University of Hawaii has a curious propensity to do above all else, it is negotiate against itself.

We’ve seen it in the ample salaries and packages lavished upon UH administrators time and again. Perhaps, nowhere more than in athletics.

Recall the $1.1 million contract bestowed upon head football coach Greg McMackin. Remember the $104,000 raise and generous bonus package ($1,000 each for up to six autograph sessions per season?) granted to basketball coach Gib Arnold after one season.

To follow the dialogue between basketball coach Benjy Taylor’s camp and UH and all that surrounds it is to wonder how much the school has learned from its expensive escapades.

UH made — and Taylor has to this point, at least, turned down — a one-year extension that would take him through the 2015-2016 season at $190,000.

The question of UH here is: Why?

Why, for example, should there be a fast break by UH to make a basketball hire when the first order of business still needs to be selecting an athletic director?

To date, Taylor has done a commendable job with a team that is 13-6 — even if it is 1-2 in the Big West — given the program’s upheaval these past three months. For that he should be applauded.

But that is hardly a reason to rush into or to hold open any deal that commits the school past this semester, let alone into 2016 or beyond, until we see how the rest of this season and the NCAA investigation play out. Hopefully, UH isn’t entertaining any counter offers.

Taylor’s agent was smart to press the extension issue on his client’s behalf when UH was on a roll. Turning down the one-year, $190,000 deal is another thing, however. But, hey, if you are a gambling man and know UH’s track record in these things, maybe you take the half-court, over-the-shoulder shot.

UH’s offer in the first place makes less sense. The school has options here, and the job, when it is opened up, figures to attract a good field of candidates even if it carries a salary well below the $344,000 Arnold was making. The average base pay in the Big West last year, where Arnold topped the charts, was running about $215,000.

With an attractive arena, TV exposure though the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic and a winnable conference, UH has a lot to offer the next coach, whoever it is. Be assured it will not lack for applicants.
Meanwhile, most coaches worth their playbooks and courtesy cars will want to know who the AD, their immediate supervisor, is going to be.

One of the main reasons you have an AD in the first place is to make these hires. Preferably without a cumbersome committee.

What UH needs to do before it leverages itself into a corner, is hire the AD in the next month and then let that person select the coach in early March, basketball’s annual shopping period.

If Taylor can make the Rainbow Warriors a title contender in the conference, then he can apply for the permanent job. But there are 13 regular-season games to play plus the conference tournament, time enough for UH to avoid past mistakes and make a reasoned rather than impulsive hire this time.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.