The state House will not order a financial and management audit of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa athletic department after several lawmakers said they were impressed by new athletic director Jim Donovan's candor in acknowledging past problems.

Donovan apologized to House lawmakers last month, and again in a private caucus on Monday, for what he called evasive and inaccurate financial information that had been provided to the Legislature by Herman Frazier, his predecessor. Donovan said the athletic department's finances were worse than what Frazier and other UH administrators had described last year.

But Donovan and UH administrators also said a state audit would be duplicative because the department undergoes an independent financial audit each year and that UH has just authorized a management audit.

"I'm quite confident that Jim Donovan will do a great job. He really stood up to the plate at the hearing last month before the Legislative Management Committee," said state Rep. John Mizuno, D-30th (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), who sponsored the resolution calling for the audit. "His honesty and candor was outstanding. To just step up and say that the past administration provided information that was not correct was very important, both for him to do that and for us to hear that.

"With that kind of candor, I think we can trust Jim Donovan."