UH-Hilo Athletic Director Dexter Irvin resigns

University of Hawaii at Hilo athletic director Dexter Irvin will resign from his position effective Dec. 31 to take a similar job at the College of Southern Nevada, ending a four-year tenure that produced sweeping change at the 12-sport NCAA Division II school.

According to a UH-Hilo press release Tuesday, Irvin developed a gender equity plan, implemented official audits, created an operations manual, and established women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s soccer as officially recognized sports with the hiring of full-time, permanent coaches.

The release also stated, “During Irvin’s tenure fundraising revenue and corporate sponsorships also increased notably.”

“Before I got here, there was less than $50,000 in terms of corporate sponsorships, but there were other areas of fundraising,” said Irvin, who was hired Sept. 1, 2009, replacing Kathy McNally. “In 2011-12, as far as corporate sponsorships, cash and in-trade, it was $145,000. In 2012-13, it was $310,000. This year, it’s $247,000.

“We put together a nice program. The easiest thing to sell in life is the student-athlete. They represent the best in all of us. They have potential for success. I still believe that exists here.”

On UH-Hilo’s website, Irvin’s biography states that he “increased fundraising and contributions by over $500,000 per year” at Dixie State, where he was the athletic director for 10 years and the women’s basketball coach from 2001 to ’05.

Irvin also oversaw Dixie State transition from a junior college to full Division II membership. The Red Storm are a member of the Pacific West Conference, along with the four Hawaii schools: UH-Hilo, BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific.

One of his first major decisions was to move Vulcan basketball games from Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium to UH-Hilo Gym, creating a more “college friendly environment.” Irvin’s next significant change was dumping UH-Hilo’s old circular logo for an updated model for marketing purposes.

Irvin’s first on-campus priority at UH-Hilo was establishing organization, instituting a dress code and requiring employees to follow their job description.

“Priority No. 1 is organization,” Irvin said in an October, 2009 article. “It was a dysfunctional organization with people doing other people’s jobs. They were doing jobs that weren’t part of their job description. They were trained to do something, but were doing something else.

“We’ve made it more efficient and we now have the concept of return and report. If you do a job, you report what you’ve done. People understand that you have responsibility and accountability.”

The sweeping change also applied to the coaching staff as well. Out of the 12 coaches, only three are still at UH-Hilo: men’s golf coach Earl Tamiya, women’s golf coach Jim DeMello and cross country coach Jaime Guerpo.

Irvin will be in charge of only two sports at CSN, where the junior college is most famous for being Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper’s former home. Besides baseball, the Coyotes also have softball, where Callen Perreira, the former UH-Hilo coach, will be entering his third season.

“There’s a lot less red tape. I’ll be a full-time AD for two programs,” Irvin said about going from the NCAA to the National Junior College Athletic Association. “With my personality, I’ll have a chance to construct something unique and wonderful. That’s what exists without the burden of going through the muck.

“I’m looking to capitalize on the success they had. They won a (baseball) national championship when I was at Dixie. We won it the year before. They had success and I know what that potential is.”

The UH-Hilo release also stated, “Pending final approval in accordance with UH System policies, Timothy Moore, founding director, campus recreation department, will serve as interim athletic director, effective January 1, 2014.”

UH-Hilo golfer Dalen Yamauchi finished 76th at the NCAA Division II national championships in May. On a smaller scale, the Vulcans softball team won a share of the conference title, but lost to Irvin’s old school in May at the West Regional in St. George. The volleyball team reached the West Regional in 2011, but was also bounced early.

But more highlights were hard to come by, and UH-Hilo’s funding took a dip. In his first year, Irvin had a budget of $3.6 million. Now, it’s $3 million with expenses still climbing, and the Vulcans on the hook for raising one-third that amount.

“Four or five years ago, we had six or seven schools in the league. It’s 13 now and we’re looking at 15,” he said. “We’re in the bottom third of offering scholarship money. If things go as planned, we’ll be close to the bottom next year or at the bottom. With the growth of the conference last year, we were not funded. We’ve got additional expenditures coming, the only place to resolve that is taking out scholarship money. I’m certain additional funding will be limited.

“You want to give your guys the chance to compete. We’ve hired a wonderful staff and a great group of coaches. I think my failure is not providing them with the resources to be successful. It’s frustrating to not get that done. It’s because of a combination of things.”

UH-Manoa AD Ben Jay

hospitalized after

intervening in fight

HONOLULU — University of Hawaii officials say Athletics Director Ben Jay suffered process fractures in his back and bleeding around one of his kidneys after trying to break up a weekend fight that broke out at a women’s basketball game.

University officials said Tuesday that Jay was admitted to a hospital on Monday and was expected to be discharged later Tuesday.

Jay was hurt when he tried to break up a brawl Sunday night after the finale of the Rainbow Wahine Classic basketball tournament. Jay says he was hit with something in his back.

Jay initially received treatment on the court, then walked out on his own.

Hawaii officials say Jay will work from home but won’t go as planned with the school’s football team on its trip to Wyoming this weekend.

By wire sources