Several years ago the University of Hawaii athletic director’s position was described as being the “toughest athletic job” in the NCAA.

At the time, then-UH president David McClain offered a quick correction. “In Division I, maybe, but what about Hilo?”

For all the considerable challenges geography and finances pose for UH Manoa, its sister school on Hawaii island, NCAA Division II member UH Hilo, faces more.

Dexter Irvin, a former Vulcan AD declared the task an adventure, saying, “I feel like the Indiana Jones of athletics.”

We bring this up because whether the Vulcans’ task gets any harder — or easier — will likely depend upon who becomes the full-time replacement for UH Hilo chancellor Donald Straney.

Straney Wednesday was tabbed by UH president David Lassner to become vice president of academic planning and policy for the UH system, effective Aug. 1, pending Board of Regents approval next week.

A search for a full-time chancellor is to ensue in the fall with Marcia Sakai, Hilo’s vice chancellor for administration, serving as interim chancellor until an appointment is made, UH announced.

Athletics is hardly the chief responsibility of the chancellor, but it is one of the most visible. At Hilo a key dynamic is that Straney hired the current athletic director, Pat Guillen, two years ago bringing a semblance of consistency to a position that’s seen three people in it (including interims) in less than three years.

The pair, Guillen out front and Straney in the background, have largely worked well together in that time. And history, especially at Manoa, tells us a chancellor and AD marching in step gives you the best chance for success.

On the flip side, when a chancellor doesn’t have ownership of the AD hire — or doesn’t mesh with one that is inherited — struggles often follow.

At Hilo, the firing of Tino Reyes, a popular and well-connected volleyball coach, in December has not been without fallout.

But in recent meetings of the Board of Regents, the current Vulcan administration has been given high marks for meeting budget, gender equity and academic goals. Even to the point of holding the Vulcans up for example.

Minutes of the May meeting note, “The (intercollegiate athletics) committee recognized the difficulty for any athletic program to end the year without a deficit and commended UH-H athletics for the accomplishment.”

Jeff Portnoy, chairman of the committee, praised the Vulcans’ leadership and marveled at how it was projected to turn a $37,267 profit for the fiscal year that ended June 30. “That was remarkable,” Portnoy told Hilo officials in May. “Well done.”

It should be be noted that Hilo vs. Manoa funding is not exactly apples to apples since the Vulcans are subsidized at a higher rate, but anything in the black is still cause for celebration.

But for all the pats on the back, the challenges only deepen for Hilo. Brigham Young University-Hawaii has dismantled its athletic program leaving not only a puka in the PacWest Conference but several in the schedules. The kind that could force the Vulcans to either travel more or shell out more to assist opponents coming to the Big Island.

The Vulcans’ facilities, even with the upgraded softball field, $120,000 refinishing of Vulcans’ gymnasium begun in May and the $75,000 Student Success Lab expected to be completed in the fall, need much work.

A major priority is a new multi-purpose facility to address compelling soccer and baseball needs.

Time will tell if Guillen, too, feels like “Indiana Jones.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.