In announcing deepening budget cuts and a hiring freeze, University of Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay grimly told coaches and staff in an internal email Thursday, "Suffice to say, these next two years will not be easy."

Easy?

Sometimes it seems that word hasn’t been an active part of the UH sports vocabulary since Colt Brennan last lofted a touchdown pass in 2007.

Back then, across-the-board UH athletic performance in 20 sports ranked 40th in the nation among more than 200 NCAA Division I schools, as measured by the Learfield Sports Commissioner’s Cup standings. Many years it averaged in the 70s.

Now, however, UH is coming off its worst year of overall performance in at least a decade, ranking 158th among 212 schools in the same metric.

Worse, UH finished seventh among nine schools in this year’s Big West Commissioner’s Cup after being third (among 10) in its inaugural season. And we all know where football finished in the Mountain West.

Now comes campus-wide belt tightening mandated by Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple. According to his memo to directors and deans, requiring departments operating in the red to trim a like amount, that means at least a $2 million budget cut for athletics this year, pay-back for the $2 million deficit in the just-concluded fiscal year. 

And, as Jay’s email notes ominously, "we are projecting another substantial deficit for 2014-15."

Of course, winning helps with ticket sales and donations, and there hasn’t been enough of that lately. But hovering over the equation is the long unaddressed fundamental problem of UH operating on an old, broken financial model. One in which athletics has not been credited for the money it brings to the state’s table through parking charges for campus sporting events, Aloha Stadium advertising and concessions etc.

Those solutions are the province of the governor and Legislature and few down at the Capitol seem to be in a hurry. Especially in an election cycle.

Then, there is the issue of what UH does with the money it has. Too often it has squandered funds, especially in hiring and then buying out of underperforming coaches and administrators.

That shouldn’t be a problem for the next couple of years. The confluence of 13 head coaches having recently been granted contract extensions, many of them multi-year deals with "bumps" in pay, and UH having few pennies to spare, means it is unlikely anybody is going anywhere anytime soon.

Not long after Apple’s memo was distributed, Jay — @HawaiiManoaAD — fired off a string of tweets, including, "Its not the issue of a new stadium or how (to) best position UH for inclusion into the super conferences. We must answer one single question. It comes down to this: Is the State of Hawaii committed to properly funding & supporting a Div I Football Subdivision (FBS) Level Program?"

When Jay arrived he asked if UH could afford the price of success.

Now the question is closer to becoming whether it can afford to exist.

Progress this isn’t.  

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