Former University of Hawaii athletic director Jim Donovan is considered a “very strong” contender for the same position at Cal State Fullerton, according to some people familiar with the process.

“I’d say maybe 50/50” said a person involved but not authorized to speak on behalf of the school.

Donovan, who is scheduled to interview Nov. 28, is one of four announced finalists to replace Bran Quinn, who was reassigned this summer to the CSUF development office.

Vincent Otoupal, athletic director at Division II Cal State Monterey Bay, has already interviewed while Jamie Mullin, the associate athletic director at Syracuse, and James Sarra, deputy director of
athletics at Texas-San Antonio, are also scheduled for interviews.

Donovan declined comment on Thursday.

CSUF has recently taken on a new president and has had a turbulent year with the sudden resignation of men’s basketball coach Bob Burton in the spring and the filing of a sex discrimination suit by a former softball coach.

Fullerton does not have a football team and competes in the Big West in other sports.

Donovan was the key figure in getting most of UH’s sports in the Big West for 2012. He is also an Orange County, Calif., native.

Donovan was reassigned to a marketing position in the UH Manoa Chancellor’s Office in August in the wake of the Stevie Wonder concert controversy. Donovan was cleared of wrong-doing but a Board of Regents report Thursday said he was among several people who acted with good intentions, but ultimately used poor judgment that resulted in the university’s loss of $200,000 in the ill-fated venture.