HONOLULU (KHON2) — Matt Elliott is beginning his tenure as Athletics Director at the University of Hawaii this week at a time when collegiate athletics is going through monumental change.
Recent conference realignment has the university a year away from becoming a full-time member of the Mountain West Conference, and the House settlement allows schools to spend up to $20 million a year on revenue sharing with student athletes.
“Feel like we fit by opting in first,” Elliott said. “That’s the start to be at the table in sort of this new environment that we’re entering. And then we figure out what our resources are. How do we take advantage of those resources and make sure our student-athletes have what they need? So you get to look at scholarships. You get to look at, you know, providing those direct income to the students, and that’s very exciting.”
Scholarship and roster limits are increasing in many sports, which is requiring universities to make decisions on what to fund.
Previously, men’s volleyball only allowed 4.5 scholarships for a 19-player roster for the Rainbow Warriors, and baseball was only allowed to have 11.7 scholarships for a roster of 39 players in 2025.
“I think that’s the big picture that we look at,” Elliott said. “This creates a cap for us, and that cap is creating this environment where you can look at scholarships, you can look at what are your roster limits, and look at how you can use those dollars in a very different way. So that’s very exciting, and I think that’s an opportunity for us to just say, where can we take advantage of even making our teams better than they already are? A lot of these changes come with benefit to the student athletes, which is great.”
Gov. Josh Green praised Elliott Monday and his work with the Hawaii Community Foundation. Navigating the legislature and securing financial resources for the department has proven to be an important role for the AD.
“Everybody plays a different role in the state in leaning in to make sure the athletic department has the support it needs. I just had a year working at the Hawaii Community Foundation, where I got to see the legislature in action, work with the governor’s office, and the mayor’s office. And what, again, what I’ve heard so far is that everybody wants to support this program. So we just gotta have a real vision and a plan. And if we can do that and show the plan how we can be successful, then I think we’ll get excellent support from all those constituents.”
Gov. Green also mentioned that he’s working to try to secure an angel investor for the stadium to help add to the budget of $350 million coming from the state. Elliott said he’s already learning what’s going on with the stadium.
“I know I’ll be on certain committees as the athletics director. I just wanna be a resource. I wanna be able to support whether it’s the governor’s office, the stadium authority, whatever it is, because I know how important that stadium is, not just to the football program, not just to athletics, but to the entire community. It can be an asset for everybody. So, yeah, really, really providing that support and making sure that we’re telling the right story of how broadly that can impact our community and be so important for everybody.”
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And when that stadium is built, with a timeline for the 2028 football season, he hopes to have an attractive schedule.
“Our staff has done an amazing job putting together a football schedule. But what I do know is that we wanna draw elite opponents. Right? We wanna put a schedule together that is exciting for our fans, competitive for our team, and put ourselves in the best position to be successful. So, yeah, that’s what we’ll design going forward.”