Elliott expected to be confirmed as Hawaii AD on Monday

Barring any unforeseen dissension or obstacles, Matt Elliott is expected to be approved as the next University of Hawaii athletic director during Monday’s special meeting of the school’s Board of Regents.

On June 5, UH president Wendy Hensel announced Elliott as her choice for the AD pending the regents’ blessing. Elliott was an innovative administrator, negotiator and fundraiser for 13 years with UCLA and the past 18 months with the Hawaii Community Foundation, one of the state’s leading nonprofit organizations.

In a report to the board on Monday, Hensel will make her official recommendation. The regents then are expected to go into executive session, as is the usual protocol when discussing personnel matters. Hensel will join them in executive session. Majority approval of the board members in attendance is needed to appoint Elliott.

After exiting executive session, a decision will be announced. The board also will announce changes, if any, to the salary range of the position or if the new athletic director will receive a contract. Elliott’s predecessor, Craig Angelos, had an at-will agreement—not a contract—with then-UH president David Lassner during an 18-month tenure as athletic director that was terminated last Dec. 1. Lassner retired as UH president on Dec. 31.

Jack Tsui, co-chair of the search committee, insisted that the new AD should receive a multi-year contract.

“It was our recommendation there be a contract (for the new AD ), and that has been honored, ” Tsui told reporters during a Zoom call two weeks ago. “Frankly, I don’t see how anybody can take a job like this without a contract, as a business person.”

If approved, Elliott will start work by July 1, the first day of the athletic department’s new fiscal year. Among his assignments is preparing 15 UH teams that are making the move from the Big West to the Mountain West on July 1, 2026. UH currently is a football-only member of the Mountain West.

Elliott’s handling of UCLA’s move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten factored in his favor during UH’s AD search. Elliott was among 110 who applied—or were asked to apply—as Angelos’ successor. The list was vetted, then pared, and then reduced to three finalists : Elliott, George Killebrew and Wesley Mallette. Killebrew, a former high-level administrator with the Dallas Mavericks, is credited as an influential fundraiser. As athletic director, Mallette saved the UC Riverside athletic program from elimination during the pandemic. But it was Elliott’s leadership at UCLA and with HCF that led to earning Hensel’s recommendation.

In UH’s hiring process, the administrator who makes a hire needs final approval from a supervisor. After the chancellor’s position at UH Manoa was eliminated in 2018, the AD reported directly to the UH president. The president then answers directly to the Board of Regents. Because some regents felt the board did. not have a say when Angelos was hired in June 2023, BOR chair Gabe Lee was named co-chair of the search committee.