UH athletic department projects $1M shortfall

By Ferd Lewis and Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writers

University of Hawai'i athletic director Herman Frazier said he expects to ask the school administration for approximately $1 million to help cover a projected revenue shortfall this fiscal year.

While efforts to trim expenses are on-going, Frazier said, "we're going to need some relief."

With a little more than five months left in the fiscal year that ends June 30, UH is looking at the possibility of approximately $16 million in revenues and $17 million in expenses for its 19-sport program.

Frazier told The Advertiser he wasn't sure of the final difference, only that "it will be less than $2 million."

"At a minimum, I would suspect they would cover the salaries that were agreed to before I showed up," Frazier said.

In the period between former athletic director Hugh Yoshida's retirement announcement last February and Frazier's arrival on Aug. 1, several substantial deals were reached. Men's basketball coach Riley Wallace and men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton received vastly upgraded contracts. In addition, Yoshida received a $60,000 raise, to $180,000, for his final six months plus a six-month sabbatical. Frazier's own contract was for $210,000.

In addition, the university signed a new television agreement with KFVE (Channel 5) that came with a 46-percent cut in guaranteed revenues. UH had received $1.3 million for the final year of its five-year, $6.2-million deal.

Frazier said when he arrived, the athletic department was looking at projections to spend about $18 million, which he said he has pared back.

"We're not spending money just to spend money," he said. "I think I've helped in many regards by not just going out and doing a lot of things to overload on what we've already done. We're trying to work within the system, which, I think, shows the university we are trying to be thrifty and run it the way it should be run to get us through this first year."

Frazier said a new premium-seating plan and more aggressive approach to soliciting donations are among the improvements that should help return UH to the black in the next fiscal year.

"I think there is light at the end of the tunnel on the revenue side," Frazier said.

It is projected to be the third budget deficit in the past 12 years for the athletic department. It incurred a $1.3 million deficit in fiscal year 1999 following the 0-12 football season of 1998. Last fiscal year, UH reported a record $1.5 million deficit. Both shortfalls were made up by withdrawals from the department's so-called "rainy day" fund accumulated from previous surpluses. The last withdrawal reduced the balance to less than $50,000.