University of Hawaii athletic program gets NCAA certification

The NCAA notified the University of Hawaii that it has granted the school’s athletic program full certification after a two-year wait for the completion of key portions of the Clarence T. C. Ching Athletic Complex on campus.

The NCAA’s Division I Committee on Institutional Performance made the determination last week with a joint UH/NCAA announcement expected Thursday.

In 2012 UH was the only school among 13 in its cycle to be placed on a "certified with conditions" list after Manoa was deemed not to have fulfilled portions of its self-study relating to gender equity.

The NCAA had given UH several deadlines by which it was to have finished locker room and coaches’ offices for its women’s teams in the $13.39 million Ching Athletic Complex, the last one Jan. 28, 2014, or face sanctions. The sanctions could have included barring UH teams and athletes from NCAA championship events, the school said.

UH was required to furnish photos of the completed sections to the committee.

In its notice of certification to UH this week, the NCAA said, "this classification means that your institution is considered to be operating its athletics program in substantial conformity with operating principles adopted by the association’s Division I membership and that any problems identified during the course of the self-study have been corrected or were not serious enough to affect your institution’s certification status."

The remainder of the Ching Complex should be finished by the end of April, UH officials said.