Hawaii AD Ben Jay yesterday "announced his resignation," just "two years and two days after accepting the role," according to a front-page piece by Jason Kaneshiro of the HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER. Jay cited "personal and family reasons" for stepping aside. He plans to "remain on the job through June 30, 2015, while the school conducts a search for his replacement." UH interim Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman said that there is "no buyout provision in Jay's contract, which pays $293,000 and was to expire" in January '16. He added that the school has targeted "mid-2015" for selecting a new AD. Kaneshiro notes Jay's remaining seven months "could include the process of hiring a full-time replacement for men's basketball coach Gib Arnold, who was fired on Oct. 28 amid an NCAA investigation into the program." Jay's resignation "comes as the athletic department continues to deal with financial debt and braces for the arrival of a letter of allegations from the NCAA following its investigation." Bley-Vroman: "Hawaii has special challenges because of our location. Travel is a special problem for us. But Hawaii needs a strong athletic program. It is part of what makes us who we are, so we need to figure out a way to make that work" (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 12/10). A STAR-ADVERTISER editorial states "whether UH athletics continues to decline or whether the program manages to adapt and improve depends less on 'who' at this point and more on 'what,' as in: What do the people of Hawaii want UH athletics to accomplish, and how much are they willing to pay to meet that goal?" It is "essential to explore those questions first, before the university moves ahead by the end of January with a search for Jay's successor." Failing to do so "virtually assures that whoever follows Jay into the job will meet a similar fate, simply unable to forge ahead with a program that aspires to Division I glory but in the recent past has lacked the stable administration and coaching staffs, ample funding and winning football seasons to sustain that dream" (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 12/10).
