Mounting losses and dwindling attendance added up to Norm Chow’s dismissal as head coach of the University of Hawaii football team.

Chow, 69, was "relieved of his duties" after four losing seasons, athletic director David Matlin announced Sunday.

Matlin informed Chow during a face-to-face meeting in the athletic director’s office. Chow could not be reached for comment.

"Ultimately, we feel this decision is in the best interest of the university and the athletics department, and we need to move in a different direction," Matlin said in a news release.

In January 2012 Chow finalized a five-year contract worth $550,000 annually.

Chow will receive $137,500 for the 90-day termination notice and $200,000 for the buyout for the final year of his contract.

Matlin said UH advertised the job opening Sunday.

"It’s going to be officially a five-day posting," Matlin told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "We anticipate continuing the search after the five days and rolling it longer."

The extended period would expand the pool of applicants to include active coaches waiting for their teams’ seasons to end.

Expected applicants include June Jones, a former UH head coach and quarterback; Nevada offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich, a former UH quarterback and coach; and Rich Miano, a former UH safety and associate head coach. Bowling Green head coach Dino Babers, who played at UH, is expected to be approached, although he appears to be out of the Warriors’ price range.

Matlin named offensive line coach Chris Naeole, who was promoted to associate head coach this summer, as interim head coach, but his salary will remain the same. After being offered the temporary position, Naeole told Matlin, "Let’s go. Let’s do this."

Naeole is expected to change the practice agenda, strip the team captains of their titles and demand hard work and renewed commitment from the players and coaches for the final four regular-season games.

Naeole said, "You’re either in or you’re out. There’s the damn door right there. Don’t let it hit you on the way out. It’s as simple as that. You’re either on or you’re off."

Chow had offered similar sentiments when he was hired as Greg McMackin’s successor. In his introductory news conference, Chow spawned T-shirt slogans with such promises as "chasing championships."

Chow, who had famously been passed over for the UH vacancy in December 1995, brought credibility as a play-caller who won national championships with Brigham Young and USC, served as offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans and coached quarterbacks Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Philip Rivers, Vince Young, Steve McNair, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.

Chow instilled discipline. He prohibited long hair, refused to allow tardy players to practice and ordered players who missed a class to hold a book over their heads for 30 minutes.

He set the tone with his tireless work ethic. He was in his office by 5 every morning and never missed a game — not even after his mother died or when his wife suffered a stroke at their home in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

He also fought for extra pay for his assistant coaches, expanded training tables, supported summer scholarships to accelerate graduation progress and was instrumental in locker room renovations.

But Chow’s tenure featured two staff overhauls. The protocol for firing a head coach is also to release the assistants. But when McMackin was let go, the assistants were retained, forcing Chow to fire coaches he had not hired. He retained only Tony Tuioti, then reassigned him from defensive line to linebackers.

The next three years, the staff would be overhauled again. None of the nine assistants from Chow’s initial 2012 staff remained. The past offseason, he hired five coaches, including three coordinators. In his four seasons, Chow has had four offensive coordinators, three defensive coordinators and two special teams coordinators.

Despite what was widely regarded as the most talented roster under Chow, the Warriors struggled with injuries, a difficult schedule (they played at Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boise State during a four-week span) and finding the end zone. The offense was held scoreless in four of nine games this season.

At 2-7 overall and 0-5 in the Mountain West Conference, and assured of a fourth consecutive losing season, "Chow time" — once a marketable slogan — had expired.

"I thought Norm had the program going in the right direction in a lot of ways," defensive coordinator Tom Mason said. "In a year or two he would have had this thing really rolling. … I hate this kind of stuff. I feel sorry for Norm. I think he left his heart and soul with this program."