The University of Hawaii athletic department has been warned to expect more drastic budget cuts for the next two years, likely $2 million — or more — each year, in the wake of a newly announced campus-wide austerity plan.

In an email from athletic director Ben Jay on Thursday, coaches and staff were told, "These next two years will not be easy."

Jay wrote, "We will have to postpone several of our current initiatives and we may look at austerity budget reductions in our operating budgets. We will have to depend on fundraising private money from boosters and donors and possibly more trade from our corporate partners to keep us afloat. We will have to take a look at reallocating resources within the department."

Jay’s email comes on the heels of one earlier in the week from Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple announcing cuts of $10 million each for the current and next fiscal years "in order to regain our budget equilibrium."

Apple said, "That is about 2.5 percent of the budget that comes from the state and tuition" and is needed because "we have been drawing down our reserves by something in the neighborhood of $20 million a year."

Apple said departments "that ended 2013-14 in the red (deficit) will fall under special fiscal monitoring with negative carryovers netted against their 2014-15 budget with special oversight of all expenditures."

Jay said the athletic department finished $2 million in the red and told coaches and staff, "Since we are projecting another substantial deficit for 2014-15, we will work with the chancellor’s office to come up with an acceptable plan of operations."

Jay has told the Board of Regents, "In all honesty, there isn’t much fat on the bones."

The athletic department, which operates 21 teams on an approximate budget of $30 million, has run at a deficit for 10 of the past 12 years. Last year Apple "forgave" a $14.7 million accumulated net deficit built up over the previous decade.

Jay said that contract renewals for 13 coaches, many of whom will also receive "slight bumps" in pay, will not be impacted since they had already been signed off on. The salary raises were estimated to run less than $100,000 this year.

"Those were all already in play," Jay said.

A memo from Kathleen Cutshaw, Manoa vice chancellor for administration, finance and operations, told deans and directors a hiring freeze is in place and only employment offers accepted in writing by July 15 will be honored.

The freeze is to include casual hires, student assistants and others.