November 20, 2024 | Read Online

Here's what I'm hearing about why Hawaii just fired their athletic director

Craig Angelos hasn't even been on the job for two years. He has support from coaches and donors. Why is Hawaii ditching him now?

Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.

A quick housekeeping note before the story today. If you are a premium subscriber to Extra Points, we’d love to give you free tickets to the Extra Points Bowl. If you’d like to attend for free, please fill out this survey ASAP. If we get your information before Wednesday evening, we can have your tickets sent to you digitally. Otherwise, we can get physical tickets left for you at Will Call…but it would make my life a little easier if you filled it out ASAP.

For everybody else, tickets are just $20 bucks, which you can buy on Ticketmaster, or on site.

One of the toughest questions I’m often asked is who I think the best athletic director is…or, at least, examples of some of the best athletic directors.

I struggle with this not because I don’t follow ADs closely, but because I do. I understand that much of what happens in that role happens completely beyond the public eye. An AD might be the person held accountable for the hiring of a particular coach, but those searches usually aren’t handled by ADs alone. Fundraising is a major part of the gig, sure, but so is mentoring coaches, finding new revenue streams, negotiating with the NCAA, peers at other schools, state lawmakers, and stakeholders across campus, and more.

I understand how it can be easy to decide that an AD who cuts some ribbons, has a nice Directors Cup ranking, answers my text messages and is popular at NACDA is a ‘good’ AD. But I also know that those types of ADs accept the rewards and accolades of their peers, and still end up failing, or worse. There’s just so much that we don’t know.

So please take what I am about to write with those necessary caveats.

I really thought that Hawaii had a good athletic director.

I’m not just saying this because Craig Angelos was nice to me when I spent time with Hawaii’s athletic department a few weeks ago, or because he gave thoughtful interview answers. It was because I also got a chance to talk to a lot of people who worked with Craig, donated money to Craig, and followed the UH athletic department closely…and they all told me the same thing.

Hawaii is a hard job, but the department had positive momentum. The program just secured full-sports membership in the Mountain West. The onerous travel subsidies for conference play were going away. The school is preparing to announce a new apparel contract (with Nike, I’m told) that will have more generous terms than previous deals. The football team charters now. The list goes on.

Apparently, not everybody felt the same way. Because on Tuesday morning, news started to trickle out that Angelos was being fired. I heard this was likely coming late last week, but wasn’t sure if it was going to happen now, or at the end of the football season.

The university, to the best of my knowledge, has not yet given an official reason for the termination, or at least, they haven’t by 8:30 PM CST on Tuesday night.

The university provided the following statement to the Star Advertiser:

“This is a confidential personnel matter. The University of Hawaiʻi confirms that Mr. Angelos’ final day as the UH Mānoa athletic director is December 1. Effective December 2, Associate Athletic Director Lois Manin will serve as the acting athletic director. An announcement about a future search will be made by incoming UH President Wendy Hensel after the new year.

President David Lassner met regularly with AD Angelos since he was hired, as he does with all his direct reports. Lassner made the decision to part ways with Angelos based on performance. This action is taking place now following the completion of the search for the new UH president.

Lassner is appreciative that Angelos is remaining through December 1 to assist with the transition. The University remains grateful for his efforts and his dedication to UH Mānoa athletics, and wishes him the very best in the future.”

Craig Angelos also released the following statement late on Tuesday evening:

When I said it would be a dream to serve as the Athletics Director at the University of Hawai'i—I truly meant it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, I loved the people and this community. That’s why I was completely blindsided when I learned of the outgoing President's decision to part ways. When I asked for the reason, he cited my performance—a response that absolutely shocked me because I thought things had been going pretty well for our athletics department.

In a short amount of time, I believe we accomplished so much like creating new revenue streams, hiring a ticket sales team, revamping fundraising efforts, focusing on NIL initiatives, navigating the effects of the NCAA House settlement, securing a place in the Mountain West Conference while eliminating travel subsidies, arranging charter flights for the football team, negotiating a record-breaking apparel deal, developing a facilities master plan, collaborating with the stadium authority on the new Aloha Stadium project, and balancing the budget for the past two years. There is still much more to be done, but I thought we were on the right track.

I understand some may wonder if there were other factors contributing to the separation, especially if my performance seemed to be going well. I want to assure everyone that there is no “smoking gun” here—no hint of impropriety or malfeasance, either personally or professionally. I have always treated people with kindness and respect and have done what is best for the athletic department at all times.

While my record speaks for itself, I remain grateful to the President for hiring me and giving me the opportunity to serve as the Athletic Director at the University of Hawai'i. It was truly an honor. As I move forward, I want to sincerely thank everyone for their support. I am especially grateful to the student-athletes, head and assistant coaches, staff, tremendous donors, the Board of Regents, legislators, and all the friends of the program.

Throughout my time here, I always felt a tremendous amount of support from them. I loved being here and am truly saddened to be leaving. Nevertheless, I depart with my head held high, grateful for the opportunity to have been part of this community. I take pride in knowing we did things the right way and achieved meaningful results. Now, it's time to move forward and seek the next great opportunity in intercollegiate athletics—a career I have loved for 30 years. So for the last time….Go Bows!!!!

Here’s what I’m else hearing right now, and where I think this story could go next.