HONOLULU -- Hawaii coach June Jones received a new five-year contract worth more than $4 million Friday, making him the state's highest-paid employee.

The deal was approved by the University of Hawaii Board of Regents. Jones' original five-year contract was to expire after this season.

"I feel very blessed," Jones said. "I'm glad it's over with."

Jones, who earned about $380,000 annually in base salary, will now earn $800,016 per season -- plus incentives. The deal runs through June 30, 2008.

Hawaii athletic officials said the figure of $816,000, which they released earlier in the day, was erroneous.

"It's big-time athletics and he's a big-time coach," said Hawaii president Evan Dobelle, who earns $442,000 a year.

The university will pay half of Jones' new salary. The rest will come from private donors and the booster club.

"It's not as much as Ohio State, and not as much as Alabama, and not as much as a lot of others, but June wants to be here and we want him here," Dobelle said. "You also have to remember this is a coach who made a determination to come back to the college ranks. This is a person who was a professional head coach, so we're lucky to have him."

Jones said the deal "wasn't about the money," and that he didn't make any salary demands, leaving that up to his agent. But he did say that he "could've made twice as much at other jobs."

He said the deal demonstrates that Hawaii is committed on taking the program to the next level, adding that he doesn't feel any more pressure to win.

"Whether I'm making $80,000 or $800,000, the pressure is the same," he said. "The only pressure there is, is what you put on yourself."

Agent Leigh Steinberg said he was "extremely gratified" with the deal.

"It's a breakthrough contract for a breakthrough coach," he said. "June has been able to elevate that program to a premier football power and the contract reflects that."

There have been several college and NFL teams interested in Jones, "but he's been extremely happy at Hawaii and wanted to make a long-term commitment and any offers and queries that have come are not ones that we solicited," Steinberg said.

Jones has a 30-21 record since 1999 and led the Warriors to bowl games in two of the past four seasons.

"He's done a terrific job promoting the institution and the state," athletic director Herman Frazier said. "We run a 19-sport program, and we depend heavily on our football program, and I thought it would be tragic for us if we weren't able to keep him."

In addressing the Board of Regents, Frazier spoke about the increased football revenue and fan attendance since Jones became coach.

"He's been a windfall for us economically," Frazier said.

Frazier said talks began in January, but didn't "get heated" until the last 30 days. The goal was to have a contract before this season got underway, he said.

Before arriving at Hawaii, Jones coached the Atlanta Falcons from 1994-1996, and was interim coach of the San Diego Chargers in 1998.

In '99, he directed Hawaii to the biggest one-year turnaround in NCAA history. Hawaii started the season with an 18-game losing streak -- 0-12 in '98 -- and went 9-4 with a bowl win over Oregon State.