There are at least four strong local potential candidates for University of Hawaii athletic director: Keith Amemiya, Rick Blangiardi, Mufi Hannemann and John McNamara. June Jones said he wants to be football coach again, not AD.

This week I reached out to them. McNamara said he’s in.

"Yes I submitted the requested materials and hope I have the opportunity to discuss my thoughts and ideas with the selection committee," UH’s associate athletic director of external affairs said in a text Tuesday.

The other three are not saying they applied, but they’re not saying they didn’t, either. And if they did not, it doesn’t mean they won’t get a call from the search advisory committee.

McNamara’s candidness is refreshing and appreciated. He was asked a question and he answered it.

But that’s all he would say for now, other than he’s not trying to campaign for the job via the media. He’s banking on being considered since he knows how things work from the inside as a career college athletics administrator. The others all have intriguing qualities, but not that one.

As frustrating as it is for all of us who want to know where this is headed, it’s understandable some candidates choose to be coy as long as possible. They all know how politics works in this town. That’s the understatement of the year. I mean, Hannemann was only the mayor of Honolulu.

Plus, there’s no rush. UH made sure of that with this crazy up-to-a-half-year of lame duckness for Ben Jay, the AD it fired but wants the public to believe resigned.

On Thursday, the advisory committee reports to the Board of Regents’ committee on intercollegiate athletics and we’re promised a statement. It will likely mention the outstanding quality of the applications and the huge number of them received.

And later in the evening, there will be a basketball game.

The surprisingly successful Rainbow Warriors are back from a long road trip that was half a shoe and an overtime away from 3-1. While they were gone the NCAA finally officially accused the program of breaking some of its rules.

Benjy Taylor wasn’t implicated in the allegations, and in a perfect world he would be rewarded for leading this team to 16-9 as acting coach amid the chaos.

But the new AD needs to be allowed to make the permanent hire. Or why have one?

Facing NCAA sanctions might rank up there with UH’s financial hole and the nadir the football program finds itself in as reasons to make this AD job unattractive.

But, the flip-side is the opportunity to choose basketball and football coaches, likely in short order. The job of athletic director has changed a lot over the decades, but they are still judged on high-profile hires.

One of the questions at UH, though, is if the new AD will be allowed to make those hires and other decisions without undue interference.

That is just one reason any finalist for this job should be asking as many questions as he or she answers.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.