By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

You don't have to be a University of Hawai'i sports fan to follow the ongoing Great Athletic Director Search.

Indeed, a lot of people who don't know Mike Trapasso from Mike Wilton or "aloha ball" from Aloha Bowl are watching this one more as a read on UH President Evan Dobelle's new order than on who is next to administer the 19-sport, $16 million athletic department.

Dobelle is coming up on his July 2 first anniversary of moving into Bachman Hall and the selection of the athletic director just about completes his much-discussed and well-compensated management team.

While the recent choice of the first permanent Manoa chancellor in 16 years is more central to the academic mission, the position of the director who operates the state's only division I-A athletic program is easily the most visible administrative post on the Manoa or any other UH campus.

Dobelle's predecessor, Kenneth Mortimer, once observed, "everybody in town knows who the AD is; more than know who sits in my chair."

The aggressive, hands-on, high profile that Dobelle has carved out has narrowed the gap considerably, but it is still the athletic director who is more likely to be the subject of conversation on call-in radio, Internet chat rooms or in print.

In the new structure, the chancellors have autonomy for their campuses with Dobelle overseeing and charting the direction for the entire 10-campus system. When UH-Hilo hired its most recent athletic director, Kathleen McNally, last year, it was chancellor Rose Tseng's call.

And, this one shapes up as the call of interim Manoa chancellor Deane Neubauer. Neubauer, who is overseeing the search and was scheduled to be in Dallas today for interviews with some finalists, has been a professor of political science for 32 years at UH where he is a much-respected, no-nonsense administrator who will shortly make way for his successor, chancellor-select Peter Englert.

In the shadow of a president whose hands have reached into areas untouched by some of his predecessors, Neubauer has maintained to both media and candidates, "this is my call." He has done so while also acknowledging he will "seek the counsel of the president" in making it.

Indications are, from the enormous size of the 18-member search committee to the width of the interests that it represents, a lot of bases will be touched and counsel heard before this is wrapped up.

Perhaps on no corner of the Manoa campus is there a position that isn't buffeted by politics to some degree. To expect this most visible of jobs to now be the exception might be unrealistic.

When Dobelle made the choice of chancellors, selecting Englert over UH graduate Lynn Jelinski, it came with only a fraction of the political interest the AD position brings. It also came after an open forum that allowed the faculty and public to both meet and assess the differences between finalists. The AD search, being conducted behind closed doors, has not afforded that opportunity, merely adding to the intrigue.

Both candidates with local ties, Dick Tomey and Jim Donovan, have active political constituencies campaigning for them. And, indeed, some of the people responsible for bringing Dobelle here can be found among them.

In its search for what should be the best person for the considerable job ahead, does UH reach outside the state and thereby deflect the disappointment of choosing one candidate with local ties over the other and the fallout that could follow?

Or, with Dobelle having built his management team almost exclusively with imported personnel to date, does he feel the need for a so-called "local anchor" in this marquee position?

Not only those who have a rooting interest in UH sports will be watching the outcome of this one.