HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – University of Hawaii president Wendy Hensel announced her pick for the university’s next athletics director, appointing Matt Elliott on Thursday.
Community leaders praise Elliott for his short time he’s spent in the islands.
Elliott most recently moved to Oahu in 2022 and started working for the Hawaii Community Foundation, where their now-former CEO says UH is making the right move.
As CEO, Micah Kane worked closely with Elliott, who served as the nonprofit’s senior policy director.
“In my career, I would say he’s one of the top leaders that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with,” Kane told reporters. “I think what you’re going to find when he goes into the the system is that he’s going to map out a strategy and he’s going to be very collaborative on how that strategy is built.”
Longtime banker Jack Tsui also likes the pick.
The search committee co-chair says his team looked at more than 100 candidates and came up with four finalists based largely on their Division I experience, recruiting skills, and Hawaii ties.
Elliott’s wife, a Punahou graduate, was born and raised in Hawaii. They’ve lived off and on in Hawaii since in 2005, but Elliott also spent 13 years at UCLA.
“He worked successfully with coaches and guided UCLA’s entrance into the Big Ten,” Tsui said. “I think his personal attributes would be integrity, intelligence, honesty.”
Elliott said in a statement that he’s grateful for the opportunity and plans to “chart an ambitious and unified path forward.”
Former UH regent Jeff Portnoy says Elliott will need to adapt to a changing college landscape.
“I know that Mr. Elliott has been involved in college sports while he was at UCLA, apparently had a lot to do with their moving to the Big Ten, but so much has happened in collegiate sports in the last 24 months that he’s got a big learning curve ahead of him,” Portnoy said.
Pending approval by the UH regents, Elliott’s base salary will start at $425,000 with additional performance-based incentives.
That’s a change from former AD Craig Angelos, who was never on contract.
Tsui saying it was important that the next AD would be under contract.
“It was the first conversation I had with the president and that was in January,” Tsui said.
“I haven’t seen the contract. Unfortunately, when I was a regent, I saw way too many athletic contracts and know how problems can arise,” Portnoy said.
Elliott’s most obvious tests include the Aloha Stadium project and name image and likeness compensation for athletes, as well as transitioning more teams to the Mountain West Conference next year.
A more nuanced test will be navigating the political and business communities in a state that loves UH sports.
“He could be the right choice,” Portnoy said. “Again, I don’t know him. I just know these other things. He’s got some strong positives, but he’s got some huge challenges.”
Elliott would need to be approved by the UH Board of Regents at a special meeting set for June 16.
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