Senior administrative staff would be the first to feel any reduction in salaries when the University of Hawaii athletic department looks at trimming its budget, athletic director David Matlin said.

“The leaders have to go first,” Matlin said.

The department is projecting a $9.3 million deficit for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2021, due to the impact of COVID-19, according to a report presented to the UH Board of Regents on Thursday.

Matlin said there have been no discussions about cutting any of the 21 varsity teams UH currently fields.

Along with cuts in travel and other areas, athletics has begun trimming salaries, the department’s largest single expense. Coaching and support staff salaries paid by the department added up to more than $19 million, or approximately 37 % of expenses, in 2019, the most recent year in which an audit has been released.

Several positions under casual hire status have been eliminated and one head coaching position — sand volleyball — was not renewed and consolidated with indoor volleyball as a cost-saving measure, Matlin said.

In addition, full-time replacement or new positions have been frozen and student help hours have been eliminated or reduced.

The last time the department sought wide salary cuts was during the 2009 great recession, when a range of 5% to 10% was sought for athletics as part of more than 200 senior positions at the university.

At the time, outgoing UH President David McClain and his incoming successor, M.R.C. Greenwood, took 10% cuts. Athletic director Jim Donovan received a 7% cut.

There are four senior positions in the athletic department, each paying between $130,000 and $318,000 annually.

Head coaches currently earn between $50,714 and $760,000 but, as HGEA members and under contract, cannot be compelled to take cuts. However, they may be asked to take voluntary reductions or to make donations. Then-Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji was among those in 2009 agreeing to make voluntary cuts.

Other staff positions are also represented by the union.

In its report to the regents, the department listed contingency scenarios for 5% to 20% across-the-board reductions in “benefit adjustments.” The report noted, “any labor and benefit adjustments will be coordinated with other state and/or university actions.”