When Ben Jay was hired as University of Hawaii athletic director in December 2012, he took over a department recovering from controversy and dealing with a mounting financial deficit.

His successor figures to face similar challenges.

The university is poised to embark on a search for a new athletic director for the third time in seven years after Jay announced his resignation on Tuesday in a news conference at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Two years and two days after accepting the role as UH’s 19th athletic director, Jay cited "personal and family reasons" for stepping aside. He plans to remain on the job through June 30, 2015, while the school conducts a search for his replacement.

"It’s very hard for me to step away from this, but I do so knowing I’m doing what’s best for myself and for my family and for those personal and family reasons I’ve chosen to resign," Jay said.

In the two-pronged news conference, Jay first affirmed that Norm Chow will return next season as Rainbow Warriors football coach before addressing his impending departure as athletic director.

Chow is entering the fourth year of a five-year contract that pays $550,000 annually. The Rainbow Warriors went 4-9 this season, moving Chow’s cumulative record to 8-29.

"We have a ways to go; 4-9 is not successful, but it is improvement," Jay said. "It is improvement from where we came from."

UH-Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman voiced his support for the decision and said it was "important to dispel those unfounded rumors that there was a plan to buy Norm out. … There is no such plan and I think it’s important to be clear about that."

While Chow’s status for next season is secure, the athletic department will prepare for another change in leadership.

Jay said he met with Bley-Vroman on Friday and informed him of his decision to resign on Monday.

Unlike coaches, Bley-Vroman said there is no buyout provision in Jay’s contract, which pays $293,000 and was to expire in January 2016.

Bley-Vroman, himself only a few months into his term as chancellor of the Manoa campus, said he plans to make an announcement on the search process by January, with a target of having a new athletic director selected by mid-2015.

"It’s always a little unknown how exactly that will play out and how long it will take, but our target, of course, is to have someone selected by the end of June so that we can have a smooth transition," Bley-Vroman said.

In the meantime, Bley-Vroman said, Jay will remain "as athletic director with my complete confidence and fully in charge of the athletic program here through the end of June."

That could include the process of hiring a full-time replacement for men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold, who was fired on Oct. 28 amid an NCAA investigation into the program.

When Bley-Vroman was asked whether Jay’s departure was performance-related, the chancellor reiterated that Jay was leaving for family reasons.

"Ben is resigning for personal reasons. He’s not being forced out," Bley-Vroman said.

Jay was hired by then-UH Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple in the wake of the Stevie Wonder concert fiasco that prompted the reassignment of former athletic director Jim Donovan.

His resignation comes as the athletic department continues to deal with financial debt and braces for the arrival of a letter of allegations from the NCAA following its investigation.

In May, the UH Board of Regents approved moving $13 million in accumulated debt from the athletic department to the UH-Manoa chancellor’s office. But with football ticket sales lagging, Jay told the UH Board of Regents Intercollegiate Athletics Committee last month that the department projected a $3.52 million deficit for the current fiscal year.

Jay created a stir in August when he told a Board of Regents committee, "There is a very real possibility of football going away," as the school sought $3 million in aid from the state. Jay later clarified the statement, saying it was "made to convey a sense of urgency" and that none of UH’s 21 teams was in danger of being cut.

"Hawaii has special challenges because of our location. Travel is a special problem for us," Bley-Vroman said Tuesday.

"But Hawaii needs a strong athletic program. It is part of what makes us who we are, so we need to figure out a way to make that work. We will consider various models. I am confident that we will find a way forward on that.

"Yes, there are challenges and certainly there is a deficit and certainly we need to figure out a way to move forward that doesn’t have deficits. It’ll be a challenge, but I think we’ll be up to it."

In his remarks, Jay touted improvements in academic performance within the department, adding, "We’ve made strides in facilities, we’ve made strides in and around the program."

"There’s still a lot of work to do, but I can honestly say this program is definitely in better shape than when I first got here and I can take a little bit of solace in that," Jay said.

Jay had served as senior associate athletics director for finance and operations at Ohio State for six years when he was selected to replace Donovan and take over the 21-team, $33 million department.

Now the university will begin the process again.

"Over the next few weeks we will need to engage in a series of discussions about what we’re looking for in an athletics director," Bley-Vroman said.

"I don’t want to presuppose the results of that discussion. If we could clone Ben, I would certainly take that as a solution."

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