May 1st and 10 w/JD will be held on May 9th at 10:00AM

[Scott]

Jim Donovan will be chatting live from 10:00 am to 11:00 am on Monday, May 9th. If you can't be here then, please post your questions in this thread. One question at a time. Preference will be given to live questions but hopefully we should be able to have all questions answered.

[Mr.EDGE808]

Mr.EDGE808 wrote:
First of all, thank you for your candor and honest approach that you've taken on as AD for the University of Hawaii on this media forum. I really
appreciate your answers and "forward" thinking approach on these issues for the fans and community. My question is when will the University of Hawaii
move forward with ALL of the sports programs as "pupukahi'i holomua" as in WARRIOR NATION? The ambiguous labeling of some programs being "rainbows",
"rainbow warriors' or "Men of war" does a poor job of team unity for our community and State university. By the way, I am an alumni, and I'm proud to be
one.....


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Jim Donvan's repsonse:


Mr. Edge808 -

Certainly branding, or should I say consistent branding, is a long-term important issue for us. Having been on the job for 5 months, I recognize this is one of the issues that will need to be dealt with but as I prioritize all the issues we are facing, this one probably won't happen until my second or third year on the job (and since it's been this way at least since the 1999-2000 school year, I figure a few more months may be inevitable). As I formulate a plan in my mind for this issue, I'm hopeful to get feedback from our many constituencies and stakeholders as to where our long-term brand position should be.

Mr. Donvan

When will the time come to address this long term plan for a consistent brand?

[Sportsbow]

Hi Jim.

Are there any updates that you can tell us about the MWC television situation? I recall that both UH and Oceanic were awaiting word from the MWC whether pay-per-view will continue or not from a Star Advertiser article dating back in February 08, 2011.

Also, how about the University of Hawaii television network with Oceanic Time Warner Cable. Are there any updates with that situation?

Thanks

[wilderstreet]

Mr. Donovan,

How will the basketball team's trip to China be funded?

[Small~Axe]

Good morning Jim,
What is the status of Gin Arnold's contract?
Also with coach Mack entering his 4th season of 5, will an extension be considered before, during or at the end of this season?
BTW, happy belated Mother's day to your bride Tracy..

[Scott]

Once again please take this opportunity to share any updates, events and/or activities that you would like to share with the Ohana! Thank you!

[SunTzuWarrior]

Do you feel that the big west is a long term solution or a possible stepping stone for the other University of Hawaii Sports?

[Grandpa]

With the football team going to the MWC, will it benefit or hurt the Hawaii Bowl from a business standpoint? Thank you and keep up the great work!

[Jim Donovan]

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. Let's begin.

[BigWave96744]

Aloha Jim, with UH and BYU scheduled to play each other in football for years to come, would you consider starting a tradition of both teams doing the haka at mid field, like they do in international rugby games?

BYU has lots of polynesian players and has done the haka for years. I think it would be a great new traditions for both schools... the national tv audience would love it. Maybe something to shoot at, next time you chat with the BYU AD

[Jim Donovan]

Mr.EDGE808 wrote:
First of all, thank you for your candor and honest approach that you've taken on as AD for the University of Hawaii on this media forum. I really
appreciate your answers and "forward" thinking approach on these issues for the fans and community. My question is when will the University of Hawaii
move forward with ALL of the sports programs as "pupukahi'i holomua" as in WARRIOR NATION? The ambiguous labeling of some programs being "rainbows",
"rainbow warriors' or "Men of war" does a poor job of team unity for our community and State university. By the way, I am an alumni, and I'm proud to be
one.....


-------------------------------------
Jim Donvan's repsonse:


Mr. Edge808 -

Certainly branding, or should I say consistent branding, is a long-term important issue for us. Having been on the job for 5 months, I recognize this is one of the issues that will need to be dealt with but as I prioritize all the issues we are facing, this one probably won't happen until my second or third year on the job (and since it's been this way at least since the 1999-2000 school year, I figure a few more months may be inevitable). As I formulate a plan in my mind for this issue, I'm hopeful to get feedback from our many constituencies and stakeholders as to where our long-term brand position should be.

Mr. Donvan

When will the time come to address this long term plan for a consistent brand?

-------------------------------------------------

MR.EDGE808 -

When I was first hired, this was one of the issues I wanted to tackle in the long-term. But just like the US military says, “When the bullets start flying, the plan often goes out the window and you have to improvise”. While there are no actual bullets flying here, thank God, the reality is we had some major challenges to face over the past 36 months.

First and foremost, and frankly still present, is the budget situation. When I was first hired, we were operating at about a $2 million per year deficit and an accumulated deficit of just under $6 million. Shortly after I was hired, our country went into the worst recession since the Great Depression. The budget issue – including increasing revenues and reducing expenses or at least holding them steady – has been a large majority of what we’ve had to spend our time on.

In addition, I have had to hire 4 head coaches and we all watched the WAC undergo severe membership changes – not for the good. Most of 2010 and some of 2011 was spent on conference realignment and getting into the Mountain West Conference for football and the Big West Conference for most of the other sports.

In the meantime, it’s not like I haven’t spent any time on the branding issue. What I’ve come to find out talking to coaches, former coaches, letterwinners, faculty and staff, season ticket holders and general fans is this issue is an extremely emotional one to a lot of people. To generalize, most people over the age of 45-50 tend to be fans of the brand “Rainbows” or “Rainbow Warriors”. Most of the people under the age of 45 tend to be fans of the brand “Warriors”. Dozens if not hundreds of people have come up to me over the past 3 years and “lobbied” for the brand that they prefer most – and I can honestly say there has been no “majority”. (Furthermore, many people have mentioned to me how they were disappointed and hurt that there wasn’t more public discussion on the decision to change the football team’s brand to “Warriors…”)

So while I recognize this is an issue that eventually needs to be tackled, when it’s addressed, some fans will likely become disenfranchised because they will not agree with the ultimate brand decision. Because of our precarious budget situation, I feel it’s important that we don’t “turn away” any of our fans by making what will likely be an emotional branding decision before our budget situation is more stable. That said, this may be an issue that we might address prior to entering into the new conferences in 2012-13, but no promises! (And while I said when I was first hired this is an issue that needs to be addressed – and it still is – I never promised a specific timeline, but I’m confident it will get done on my watch.)

[Jim Donovan]

Hi Jim.

Are there any updates that you can tell us about the MWC television situation? I recall that both UH and Oceanic were awaiting word from the MWC whether pay-per-view will continue or not from a Star Advertiser article dating back in February 08, 2011.

Also, how about the University of Hawaii television network with Oceanic Time Warner Cable. Are there any updates with that situation?

Thanks

----------------------------------------------

Sportsbow -

Not much to report here… I do know that the Mountain West Conference Office is still in discussions with CBS Sports, Versus, Comcast, and Mountain Network (a subsidiary partnership of CBS Sports and Comcast). Until those discussions/negotiations are completed, I don’t really have any information I can report on what the television situation will be like when we enter the Mountain West for football in 2012.

For the 2011-12 academic year, Oceanic Time Warner Cable has announced that they will be producing and airing University of Hawaii televised athletic events. This will be a change to the 25 years or so that K5 has produced the telecasts (some of which were aired over Oceanic channels as Pay-Per-View and others as a “free” broadcast on K5).

The only other announcement I’m aware of is that Oceanic has hired Dan Schmidt to produce the telecasts. Rumor has it that the telecasts will be aired on a specific channel and that some or most or even maybe all of the telecasts will be in HD. These are just rumors right now, but I expect Oceanic Time Warner Cable will be having a press conference and/or an announcement sometime in the next couple months to let everyone know what their plans are for this upcoming year. As a side note, Oceanic telecast the two CIT men’s basketball post-season events, and I thought they did a pretty good job, so I’d expect that same kind of quality broadcast going forward into next year.

[Jim Donovan]

Mr. Donovan,

How will the basketball team's trip to China be funded?

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wilderstreet -

As with the case of other teams taking "foreign tours", the teams are required to raise the funds necessary for the trip. The most recent example I can recall -- before Gib's announcement to take the basketball team to China -- was the women's water polo program raising funds to take a tour to Italy.

My understanding is Gib has been working very hard to secure sponsors -- cash and trade sponsors (eg. air and hotel). It's also my understanding that he's made a lot of progress and there are many fans and corporations out there that want to assist him with this endeavor. I would expect Gib to make an announcement on this Asia trip sometime in the next few weeks to a month.

Someday when our budget situation is "better" I'd love to actually fund for teams going on Asia tours as I believe building a relationship/bridge to these countries will intrinsically enhance our value nationally. In the meantime, the reality is we're trying to raise enough revenues to cover the day-to-day expenses necessary for salaries, scholarships, recruiting, guarantees, team travel, etc. So being able to have the athletic department fund teams for foreign travel is a long-term goal.

[Jim Donovan]

Good morning Jim,
What is the status of Gin Arnold's contract?
Also with coach Mack entering his 4th season of 5, will an extension be considered before, during or at the end of this season?
BTW, happy belated Mother's day to your bride Tracy..

---------------------------------------------------

Small~Axe -

I want to be real careful answering this question because as I've said many times before, I don't believe in negotiating through the media or the internet.

Simply put, Gib signed a "major terms" agreement the day before his press conference in 2010. This agreement specified the term (3 years), the salary (I cannot disclose because it's inside the salary range set by the Regents), and numerous bonuses Gib could earn for performance (I believe these have been published in the newspaper previously). The University added some "boilerplate" language to the major terms that Gib agreed to in March 2010 -- language that specifies the employee's and employer's rights specifically -- but Gib didn't receive this until he was "in season". I believe Gib didn't want to address the situation until his season was completed, which is understandable as he was concentrating on winning games.

Gib came to me after this past season was over and asked if we could discuss terms again. Based on the success of this past season, I agreed that we could discuss various issues. We are still in the discussion stage, and I am working with Gib's agent, Russell Kaupu from The MacNaughton Group. At this time, I can't really add more than that regarding Gib's situation...

At this time, I can't really comment on Coach McMackin's situation. Sorry.

[Jim Donovan]

Do you feel that the big west is a long term solution or a possible stepping stone for the other University of Hawaii Sports?

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SunTzuWarrior -

The Big West Conference is very competitive in the sports of baseball, softball, water polo and women's soccer. With the addition of UH, I expect the competitive level for men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball to "step up" significantly. Believe me, there are several schools and all these sports listed that have the ability to be competitive against us (there are several cases in the past few years where a Big West team has done well against a UH team).

Our job as a new member of the conference is to try and win as many conference championships as possible. I look at it philosophically as "a rising tide lifts all boats". Certainly the academic standards of many of the schools in the Big West are comparable to ours, and the travel will be much more convenient, cheaper and help us limit time away from school for our student-athletes.

Who's to say what the future will bring, but our most immediate goal is do the best we can in the Big West Conference with all of our sports (this means winning championships and championship tournaments so our teams receive the automatic berth to the NCAA Championship).