Jay to get creative running much smaller department
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / DECEMBER 2014
University of Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay announced his resignation due to “personal reasons” at a press conference held at the Stan Sheriff Center on Dec. 9, 2014.
There will be no dire warnings about closing down the football program in Ben Jay’s new athletic director position.
Nor will he wade into controversies about winnowing down nicknames.
Of course, the Academy of Art University doesn’t have a football team and it has just one nickname, the “Urban Knights.”
Still, Jay says lessons learned at the University of Hawaii, where he served as athletic director for three years, make him much better prepared to embark upon another unique experience, leading the self-described “only higher arts education institution in the U.S. to have an NCAA athletics program.”
The private, for-profit college spread across downtown San Francisco announced Jay as the director of its 16-team, Division II program Friday, a position he assumes June 22.
The hiring comes almost a year to the day after he left UH, where he was forced out of a job he had held since 2013.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Jay said he spent the year between UH and his AAU appointment in consulting, working with the homeless and at-risk youth — and reflecting.
“You always think back to what you did — and what you didn’t do,” Jay said.
“Certainly I learned about myself and about leading people,” Jay said. “You make mistakes and you learn from them. But you also make great progress and build upon that.”
From his time at UH, Jay said, “You learn that communication is very important and that you are going to have to make some judgment on coaches.”
At UH he came under criticism for retaining Norm Chow as the football coach and planning to extend Gib Arnold as the men’s basketball coach.
“It is all about how much time you are going to give somebody (as a coach) to progress with their program,” Jay said.
In two previous stays in Northern California, as a minor league baseball executive and then an administrator with the Pac-12 Conference, Jay said he was familiar with the school’s ubiquitous double “A” logo. But it wasn’t until he was in Hawaii, and noticed the school playing Hawaii Pacific University, Chaminade and UH-Hilo as a Pac West Conference member, that he knew it even had an athletic program.
Jay said, “I’ve had to change my (vocabulary) a little to ‘artist-athletes.’ The kids are remarkable and the uniqueness of the program is amazing.”
And, so, too, are the challenges. The school has no athletic facilities of its own apart from a conditioning center and training room. It rents practice and competition venues around the Bay area and its “campus” is arrayed among 30 or so buildings.
But the school also doesn’t have to pay burdensome travel subsidies and there is no double figure million dollar deficit to be inherited or surmounted. “President (Elisa) Stephens is committed to the program and we’re fully funded to the Division II level on scholarships,” Jay said.
Mostly, Jay maintains, “What I take away from my time in Hawaii is all the great people there. They love the program and a lot of them are still good friends of mine across social media.”
36 responses to “Jay to get creative running much smaller department”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Amazing how working at UH can ruin your career. From a big time program, to UH to a job that is worth about zero
NO WAY. It was BJ who brought and perpetuated FAILURE at UH. From stubbornly retaiining Chow after sustained failure and it was BJ who abruptly and without public input banned ‘Rainbow’ from UH athletics because to him and Chow it was too panty and represented homose xuality. It was BJ that tried to extend Fib Arnold’s contract BEFORE the NCAA completed their investigation but by then everyone knew Arnold was dirty and his record of performance was pathetic. BJ And Chow are a failed attempt by local Asian power brokers connected to Koa (one was the Bank of HI pres) for Asian affirmative action in the UH athletic program. Both BJ and Chow where long time 2nd rate assistants who wanted to be in charge. When they were finally put in charge at UH their incompetence and lack of leadership capability became glaringly obvious. Both are where they should be, one in a rinky dink college with a small athletic program and the other selling flowers in a flower shop. Not very nice things to say but it is the truth and people know it.
Don’t just blame them! WHO hired him? Hinshaw? Why is she still living off of our taxes and the fat of the land?
Bringing race into the discussion tells me a lot about the kind of person you are!!!
Jay himself touted his and Chow’s being Chinese, claiming it would give them natural entree to Asia while he built his gateway arches and bridge.
It is a FACT race was a part of the decison making process at UH athletics. It was UH and Chow supporters that first publicly bragged that Chow would be the FIRST Asian American to be a NCAA Div 1A football coach. Sometimes the truth hurts and until UH stops making stoopid decisions expect continued failure.
Clearly you are a malihini, inverse, because any preference Chow received going in to his hire as head coach was because he was a “local boy.” NOT because he was Asian, Hispanic, White, Black or Polynesian.
People born and raised in the islands love to see an “island son” come back home. The fact that Norm is a Mormon or that he has two national championship rings doesn’t hurt, either.
Try to keep up.
UH was already in a downward spin at the time they brought in BJ. Hopefully Matlin and Rolo can bring it back up.
BJ was hired to reverse the downward spiral, not accelerate it. So he failed miserably in the most important task assigned to him.
Why the freak is this even a story? Bad Job’s name must never be spoken on these forums again. Most incompetent AD in DI history.
Agreed… I did notice the words “For Profit” in the article describing the school where BJ is at now. Doesn’t sound very good to me.
Not just that – they for profit universities generally cost twice as much as a state or non profit university
Trump U was a for profit which went kaput!
Not to mention how it can ruin your life and have a ripple effect on the lives of family and chilldren! A completely innocent young man in a medical school far away has completely lost his father whom he adored due to the antics of an aggressive, bullying female homewrecker development officer who preyed on a family that came with cancer and an aging family member! U H is a massive snake pit, where lives and dreams are destroyed and brains swell into madness! Must be the heat and the humidity! AND the biggest thing is no one does anything about it! You’d think that Lassner, at least out of loyalty to a mentor who got him his PhD, would take some action on the illegitimate actions that resulted in her being “banned'” so to speak from her home and 40 years service to Hawaii! Somebody needs to do something about how UH has destroyed people!
I hope the new guy at the Cancer Center is taking notes.
Me too! That guy needs to think really hard or someone should call him!
I am happy he landed in a good place. UH is a hard situation. Too much politics and external pressures.
Me too! At least he has something to do! UH is not just a hard place, it is a sick, corrupt morally bankrupt place! It needs to be smudged or have a kahuna, a decent one or something clean out the energy and get rid of these sexual perverts, male and female who create the politics at the higher levels! And they are doing this on tax payer time! WHAT is Lassner doing on the Hokulea, eating crab cakes at the Chesapeake on tax payer dime? Anyone ask? Where is Donna Kim? Did she get bought over by Machiavelli letting her son rule the roost at the law school? Corruption, corruption corruption! And Machiavelli survives! Shame! Shame on the lot of them! Auwe! Auwe!
One of the worst ADs ever to set foot at Hawaii. Along with his cohort Apple, they set UH back for years. Glad for him as long as its there not here.
BLOW JAY WAS EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL IN MAKING OBSCENE MILLIONS OF MONEY DURING HIS HAWAIIAN VACATION, WHILE ADVISING HAWAII TO DROP FOOTBALL.
Totally agree, maybe even the worst – certainly gives Frazier a hard fight for the award. Funny how this clueless former AD can now spout all the bs about being creative. He didn’t have a creative bone in his body while here. In fact, he showed no backbone at all.
Apple the best chancellor ever – by far. Cared about students and staff.
He finally found a job that suits his talent level. He was the one who extended Trapasso’s contract two years ago along with a raise. He was a lightweight and over his head at UH.
I think he’s still in over his head.
Amen to your comments; I think Jay is more suitable for some honky tonk grade school up in Appalachia.
Best wishes!
Eh! This was the guy serving me at Little Village yesterday!
that was his twin sister.
This guy is not news worthy.
Got to agree on that. Must be a slow sports news day.
All those who are not interested in what Mr. Jay is doing nowadays please raise your hand.
Who cares. He took UH for a ride.
I’m with you. I recall he said something like if he knew what he was getting into, he wouldn’t have taken the job. However, he had, by then, identified the problems which suggests he could then start to address them. It just seemed that when he realized he had a tough row ahead of him, he bailed. Not very inspiring.
I read that old commentary by Dave Reardon that half explained away that BJ had his hands tied by politics and that’s why he was ineffective. Give me a break, it was apparent incompetence and lack of charisma, period. I too hope this is last time the subject of BJ is brought up again, it’s just like rehashing Chow, oops did it myself!
Ben Jay has absolutely no creativity whatsoever. Misfit hire if you ask me. How long before Academy of Arts has decided it can no longer put up with the loser.
Who cares?…he’s history and longer relevant…….why is this news anyway…..