David Matlin said the right things during his introduction this week as the next University of Hawaii athletic director, projecting a positive outlook that the embattled UH department desperately needs to see.
Beyond that point, the crystal ball becomes murky. Whether or not Matlin succeeds depends on his ability to marshal personal connections established in collegiate and professional sports networks, and forge new ones among UH and state leaders.
Matlin will leave his post as Hawaii Bowl executive director to begin at UH April 27, but he said he is already turning his attention to the naming of the head men’s basketball coach. Signing up a new coach, though, barely skims the surface of the problems he will face.
The coach is needed, of course, because the NCAA investigation into violations in the men’s basketball program led to the UH dismissal of Head Coach Gib Arnold and Assistant Coach Brandyn Akana and massive upheaval for the team, over the many months of inquiry.
As for the football season: the win-loss tally, as well as attendance, was a disappointment.
But the most daunting problem for the new AD is all the red ink. The chronic debt problem has precipitated discussions about drastic actions, such as eliminating teams.
That notion was floated as a distasteful but available option by the outgoing athletic director, Ben Jay, but was ultimately rejected by the UH Board of Regents. Matlin, who touted the interests of student athletes above all, apparently doesn’t have the stomach for that either, at least not at this stage.
However, given current spending constraints — and competition for funds with critical UH academic needs — such a decision point very well could be in Matlin’s future.
He made frequent references to the need for better "stewardship," which he defined as "doing the best you can with what you have, and growing it." That, he rightly observed, has to come first before people want to invest more in it.
That investment is worth striving for. A report issued by the UH Shidler College of Business and commissioned by Jay concluded that in fiscal year 201314, the UH Athletics Department generated $66 million in Hawaii spending on labor, goods and services.
The test for the new boss will be how well he can navigate through some rocky shoals to avoid unwanted outcomes, and how creatively he manages to grow his current resources.
Again, what’s most encouraging at this early stage is that Matlin seemed eager to try new things, hinting that he had ideas about new "opportunities" he sees.
And, digging into his resume, there’s evidence of determination, and that’s something this job will surely require.
With a freshly minted Michigan bachelor’s degree in hand, he worked his way up to become marketing operations manager and sales director for the Houston Astros. When he returned to Hawaii to earn his master’s in business administration, he was a marketing assistant overseeing Midnight Ohana, the popular event bringing fans into the Stan Sheriff Center to see basketball teams practice.
He was in on the ground floor of ESPN Events’ Hawaii Bowl in 2002, becoming its director six years later. In 2009 the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic was added to the events he oversees.
Matlin will need to tap his relationships within the NCAA conferences in the months ahead, and his connections forged through ESPN should comprise a valuable asset, too.
What may matter at least as much is his Hawaii experience, all of which demonstrates a familiarity with the University of Hawaii fan base, and with the Hawaii sports world in general.
At this juncture, which could charitably be described as a rebuilding stage for UH athletics, it will be crucial to have someone with good inside contacts as well. The campus and larger UH community this week got a glimpse of a likeable and earnest AD and now are waiting to see how well he can pull those levers.
The Honolulu-born Matlin, whose wife and in-laws are from the islands, seems to get how Hawaii rolls. He also seems to be a true believer in UH sports, and that may be what the department needs most.
