Posted on: Sunday, June 20, 2004
Frazier at crossroads once more
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
A maverick university president becomes embroiled in state politics and eventually gets forced out by the board that governs the school.
It must seem — to borrow a phrase from that noted academician Yogi Berra — a little like deja vu all over again to Herman Frazier, the University of Hawai'i athletic director.
Twice in four years he has hitched his wagon to an outspoken president and each time the person who hired him was out the door within two years after a collision of wills and policies with powers-that-be.
It happened at Alabama-Birmingham, where W. Ann Reynolds, who hired Frazier and backed his vision of athletics with checks covering a million-dollar deficit, was eventually forced out by the Board of Trustees. The "Woman Warrior" as they called Reynolds, left in 2002, the year Frazier came to UH.
And, it happened last week in Manoa, where Evan Dobelle, who hired Frazier and gave him his marching orders and overdraft protection, was fired by the Board of Regents.
Acquaintances said Frazier hadn't expected Dobelle's firing and, despite some early rumblings, he appeared to be surprised and upset by the turn of events.
All Frazier would say publicly the day after was that it was too soon to talk about what it meant for the athletic department or him. "The paint's not even dry," Frazier said.
But two of the department's most visible and successful figures, men's basketball coach Riley Wallace and football coach June Jones, wasted little time and few words in lamenting Dobelle's departure and the manner in which it was brought about. A "dark day" for UH, Wallace called it.
If there was an oar to cling to for Frazier, it was the naming of David McClain, the vice president for academic affairs, as acting president. McClain chaired the screening committee involved in the selection of Frazier although Dobelle's fingerprints were all over the pick.
Whether McClain stays in Bachman Hall a year from now remains to be seen as does whether Frazier can tame consecutive years of million dollar-plus budget deficits.
Ironically, last month the firm hired to assist the University of Washington in its search for a new athletic director twice contacted Frazier. At the time, Frazier said he told Dobelle of the talks and eventually his intention to remain here.
Given recent events, if the approach came now, you wonder if the reply would be the same?
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
Whether this replay will have Frazier looking for greener pastures remains to be seen, but it has made his situation a prominent item of speculation. In and around UH some wonder how long some of the deposed president's hires, not just Frazier, might stick around.
