Dave Reardon: Hawaii fans want answers, but AD search will continue

Craig Angelos will serve as athletic director at the University of Hawaii for a few more days. If you didn’t know he was fired less than two weeks ago, you couldn’t tell by his smiling demeanor at the UH basketball team’s game against North Carolina on Friday.

You may have wondered why some people in the large crowd that saw the Tar Heels beat the Rainbows 87-69 were wearing T-shirts with the words “SAVE CRAIG” printed on them.

But what’s done is done, as the UH Board of Regents confirmed Thursday. The same body that approved university President David Lassner’s choice as athletic director 18 months ago confirmed his departure after hearing from some of Angelos’ supporters.

Many questions remain about why Angelos was fired, and the only official answer that does not violate confidentiality is that Lassner said it was based on performance.

This makes us wonder whether UH’s next athletic director will work without a contract and, like Angelos, as an at-will employee – meaning he can be fired at the employer’s discretion, without specific cause.

The good thing about this for UH (and essentially the state taxpayers) is that it doesn’t result in someone getting paid to sit out for years if things don’t work out, and we have seen this before.

The bad news is that there are legitimate concerns about what quality of applicants can be expected under these conditions.

Was part of the reason for Lassner’s departure due to the fact that he is retiring at the end of next month? Is that why Angelos didn’t have a multi-year contract?

About an hour before the North Carolina game, Angelos stood near the security/media/VIP entrance. One of the men he greeted scored a UH-record 26 points at North Carolina almost exactly 30 years ago. After the local Molokai legend retired from basketball, he became a sports agent.

“You should be the next athletic director here,” Angelos told Jarinn Akane.

Maybe he should, maybe he shouldn’t.

Akana made it very clear that he was interested.

But the choice will be up to new UH President Wendy Hensel and the Board of Regents—at least on the surface. Who knows how politics works in Hawaii?

Keith Amemiya was also at Friday’s game. The head of Gov. Josh Green’s sports task force was noncommittal when asked whether he would apply for the job in a text message response Saturday. And being cagey is wise until you get a feel for what job security, if any, UH will offer its next athletic director.

“If there is a limit on the number of times a person can be considered and rejected for this position, I may have already exceeded it,” wrote Amemiya, who applied for the last two vacancies. Or is it three?

“But seriously, I’m grateful for my current opportunities at Central Pacific Bank (where he is a senior vice president) and with the governor, so let’s see how this process plays out. This is an exciting and critical time for college athletics, and we all need to support a program that means so much to our state.”

The list of people who have said they won’t apply for the job is currently longer than the “maybe” list.

Assistant AD Lois Manin, who was a finalist when Angelos won the job last year, will serve as interim athletic director beginning Dec. 2. But she was adamant that she would not apply for the position again in her statement on Wednesday.

I checked out some other local options.

Former UH associate athletic director John McNamara said by phone Saturday that he would not be applying for the job. McNamara, who was an AD finalist in 2015, said he is happy as senior vice president of marketing and communications at Hawaii Pacific Health, a position he has held since November 2021.

Sam Moku was the athletic director of Hawaii Pacific University and chief of staff to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi. The former UH football quarterback applied last year but said “probably not this time” when we spoke Saturday.

And since many of you will always ask, I checked with June Jones.

He wrote “yes”.

But before you start worrying or worrying, ask yourself this question: “Is it safe to say that you would not be interested in being a principal at UH?”