Duty to end UH deficit may fall on Apple

Chancellor Tom Apple would be required to offer a timetable for retiring the athletic department’s $11.3 million accumulated net deficit and be held directly accountable for athletic oversight, according to proposals scheduled to go before the University of Hawaii Board of Regents on Thursday.

The department has run at a seven-figure net deficit since 2003 and, with the current budget expected to be approximately $2 million in the red, regents have been told the figure could surpass $13 million by the end of the current fiscal year, which concludes June 30.

The UH Task Group on Intercollegiate Athletics is asking the board to direct Apple, who took over in June 2012, to present the plan to the regents as soon as their May meeting, according to people who have been briefed on the proposal.

In January, an independent auditor described UH athletics as "technically insolvent" and recommended to the board that athletics "be closely monitored."

In addition, the task Group is recommending that Apple and Hawaii Hilo AD Dexter Irvin be required to report directly to the board regularly. Their stewardship of athletics would be part of their evaluation. Hawaii Hilo did not run at a deficit in the last fiscal year, according to audit reports.

The task group is also recommending the regents convene a new committee to be responsible for keeping tabs on athletics on the two campuses. Currently, athletics issues can be divided among several committees, with no single group having overall jurisdiction.

The proposals come from the task group chaired by regent John Holzman that was formed by the regents in November in the wake of fallout from the Stevie Wonder debacle.