The search for the next University of Hawaii president will not be an uncomplicated process.
After all, nothing involving state and university leaders is ever easy.
But it will be particularly challenging to find a replacement for David Lassner, who announced his plans to retire at the end of next year.
It has been noted how Lassner has navigated UH’s 10-campus system through the pandemic, restructured the UH Foundation to attract more donations, and opened avenues to expand research. Lassner is an even-tempered leader who, unlike some predecessors, did not raid the departments’ rainy-day funds or purposely antagonize lawmakers. Streamlining or cost cutting, he essentially also accepted a chancellor-like role over the Manoa campus. That’s a huge responsibility and also a huge savings.
And he is an unapologetic friend to UH sports. He promoted solidarity among leaders of the Mountain West, of which UH is a football-only member. As a school 2,500 miles away from the rest of the sports world, maintaining ties is important toward survival. Most of all, he allowed the athletic department an open tab. In business, restaurants that operate in the red for long periods end up selling utensils at the swap meet. At UH, Lassner was the FDIC, making sure the bills were covered. (The past fiscal year, UH athletics broke even.)
UH’s Board of Regents, no doubt, will create a list of criteria for the presidential hopefuls. As we learned in the search for athletic director David Matlin’s successor, such lists made even Bill Gates, Elon Musk, a former mayor and the Dalai Lama unqualified for consideration. So here are my recommended steps in the hiring process:
1. Lawmakers need to specify, in writing, what they want in a UH president.
UH supposedly has autonomy, but that definition is lost in translation, particularly when it comes to athletics. Certain lawmakers are always questioning, sometimes in the form of attention-grabbing hearings, how UH raises money, spends it, decides on matters, and why the heck they went for it on fourth down. A former UH football coach used to say he won’t yell at a player if he did not give specific instructions in advance. So, lawmakers need to give specific guidelines and then — and only then — can they gripe if those requests were not honored.
2. Sure, we can pretend intercollegiate athletics are not important. We also can pretend we don’t get our DIY tips from TikTok.
But sports is important because it promotes UH, the state and tourism; unites communities and, most important, it’s entertaining. Nobody is paying to watch a BOR meeting. A football head coach usually is the highest-paid state employee. UH’s sports media relations department is in an air conditioned building with offices having windows facing the corridor. In contrast, the UH system director of UH communications works in a portable building.
With conference realignment, the growing NIL market and television revenue among many concerns, UH needs a president who can be a player in fast-changing sports world.
3. Candidates must have some local connection.
A candidate does not need a social security number that starts with 575 or 576, but there has to be some tie to one of the country’s most unique states.
Fujio Matsuda, an underrated UH president, recruited Lassner to work for the school in the information technology department in the 1970s. Lassner earned a Ph.D. from UH.
