The University of Hawaii Board of Regents today asked athletic director Jim Donovan to compile a timetable of when the financially struggling department can return to profitability.

The request came one day after a regents committee was told that UH athletics has a net accumulated debt of $8 million since 2002 that is projected to reach $10.1 million by the end of the current fiscal year, June 30, 2010.
Regents chairman Howard Karr asked Donovan to draw up the plan. "I would like to see what his strategies are going to be and what type of support he is going to need from the regents, the state or the Manoa campus," Karr said.
"If we get help we can get to break-even (annually) and start retiring some of the accumulated net deficit quicker," Donovan said. "If it is being completely done by athletics only, it is going to take longer."
Donovan added, "I think we can put a plan together within a few months. We can come up with something pretty quickly."
Donovan reiterated that UH receives less outside support than peer institutions in the Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference.
According to UH, athletics generates 81 percent of its operating funds while receiving 19 percent of its money in support from the school and state.
Meanwhile, Donovan said, peer institutions average 50 percent self-generated funds.