Donovan recovers nicely after his dream eroded

Jim Donovan’s dream job as University of Hawaii athletic director turned into a $200K-a-year purgatory at the chancellor’s office. All of us should be allowed to enjoy such a session in timeout at least once, no?

Now he’s escaped to become AD at Cal State Fullerton.

"I guess I’ve come to peace with the fact that every job comes to an end for various reasons," he said in a phone interview Thursday. "You know, it’s not how I would’ve scripted it, but it’s the end."

When Donovan got the Hawaii job in 2008, I hoped his creativity and savvy around Hawaii’s channels of influence would help him succeed despite a bad economy (and in some ways he did, including securing millions for facilities upgrades).

If anything, he was true to his school.

He played football at UH, from where he earned two degrees, including an MBA. He met his wife there.

He enjoyed great support from local power brokers, including the Legislature. He clearly learned well in that area from two of his previous UH bosses, Les Murakami and Hugh Yoshida, both among the all-time greats at working the state politicos.

There was no way to predict that a disconnect with upper campus would lead to Donovan’s undoing, and that his powerful allies couldn’t prevent it.

Donovan’s demise started long before last summer and his department blowing $200,000 on what turned out to be a fictional benefit concert.

His supporters don’t want to believe it, but that bit of poor judgment does fall on Donovan despite any and all rationalization; think of all the heat Herman Frazier would have gotten if "being out of town" was used as an excuse, whether he pushed the button himself to make the wire transfer, or not. The difference is Donovan was viewed as a local, not an outsider.

Still, the biggest blunder in this whole sad chapter of university affairs was committed by UH president M.R.C. Greenwood. She put Donovan on leave and implied criminal wrongdoing. But Greenwood was on target when she later told state senators Donovan’s problems stemmed from "Mack and the WAC" — two situations that existed before he arrived — but with which he did not deal with quickly and decisively enough for the likes of key members of the administration and Board of Regents.

It depends on whom you talk with whether Donovan wasn’t allowed the space to do his job, or that he simply failed to perform it.

He was saddled with football coach Greg McMackin’s ridiculously high and ironclad contract; it was former Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw who blessed us with that bit of fiscal irresponsibility, a few months before Donovan’s hiring. He was basically ordered to can McMackin as economically as possible.

Developing an exit strategy from the sinking WAC proved difficult for him. If not for some upper campus intervention, UH football would have been crushed this fall in a dying conference.

Donovan tried hard to please everyone, maybe too hard at times and that didn’t matter when he got on the wrong side of the wrong people at UH.

He said the right things upon his introduction at Fullerton. Although it’s not his dream job, it is near where he grew up and his aging parents.

A nice landing, all things considered.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.