Gov. Ige puts lump of coal in UH’s coffers

There will be nothing extra in the University of Hawaii athletic department’s Christmas stocking from Gov. David Ige this year.

None of the requested $3 million for athletics made it into the fiscal year 2017 executive supplemental budget announced Monday.

UH requested the funds to help underwrite stipends for athletes, travel expenses and rising operational costs for its 21-team program. UH-Hilo also was turned down in its bid for $560,000 for “student-athlete success and travel costs.”

Ige’s budget listed $10 million for Aloha Stadium “to meet code, safety or operational requirements” but the governor renewed his unwillingness to fund rebuilding the 41-year-old facility.

In its request, UH said, “Collegiate athletics at (its campuses) has a significant value and benefit beyond the university itself,” citing community pride and a significant boost to the state’s economy.

Overall, the UH System had sought $16.2 million for a variety of operations and got backing for $9.8 million, including $4 million of the $5 million requested for the Cancer Center.

“I believe that the university needs to take responsibility in terms of autonomy seriously and make (substantive) decisions about how best to provide for the Manoa campus,” Ige said at a State Capitol press conference.

Ige said the general fund appropriation for UH system is just under $500 million “and clearly the university does have the authority and the autonomy to allocate those funds in any way that they choose.”

Manoa athletics receives less than $4 million in direct general funds, officials said. Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman has previously said the general funds “chiefly go to the operations of the business office, the janitors and landscaping … it doesn’t go directly to support athletic operations.”

Next month UH officials said they will renew the request before State House and Senate money committees. A similar request was turned down by the Legislature in the 2015 session.

State money is among the cornerstones of UH athletic director David Matlin’s plan to balance the Manoa athletic budget by 2020. He declined comment Monday. Matlin has said that UH, because of its geography, has $5.2 million in “unique” costs.

Manoa ran a $4.2 million deficit for the fiscal year that concluded June 30, 2015, and is projected to operate at a $4.8 million deficit for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2016.

A USA Today report said just 24 of 230 Division I programs meet the NCAA’s self-sufficiency benchmarks.