HONOLULU (KHON2) -- After just 18 months at the helm as the University of Hawaii's 24th athletics director, Craig Angelos is being released on Dec. 1 because of "performance."
In a statement, UH President David Lassner said he met with Angelos on a regular basis and the decision to part ways was based on Angelos' performance. The actions are taking place now since the new school president has been chosen.
In his own statement, Angelos said he was shocked that performance was cited as the reason for his being let go because thought things going well in the athletics department.
Angelos met with the entire athletics department staff Tuesday afternoon, thanking them for their work under his tenure. There were lots of hugs and handshakes from staff, showing he had some of their support. He also has the support of one of UH's biggest boosters.
Mike Kawazoe runs the Rainbow Collective, the name, image, likeness or NIL fundraising arm for the University of Hawaii. He's making a bold move in response to the firing of UH athletics director Craig Angelos.
"Effective immediately, I'm taking down all of my banners with my companies from UH, and cutting off all money going towards athletics. Immediately," said Kawazoe.
The Collective has raised more than a million dollars for UH athletes to date and was in full support of Angelos' work.
"He was the right man for the job and I believed in the vision," said Kawazoe. "Now I don't know what the vision is. I don't know where UH is headed and sometimes in life, you gotta recognize a bad investment when you see it, and this looks like a bad investment."
Kawazoe said his phone had been blowing up all morning when news of Angelos' firing came out. He hasn't heard anything from UH officials.
"Not everyone has all the facts and we don't know, but on its surface, lack of response, I'm gonna have to go with what I've seen and smelled that's Craig's doing a good job," said Kawazoe. "Maybe ruffled some feathers in the way that he did that, but was it so egregious to terminate? I don't think so."
"I would be stunned for the university to give us an answer on why he was terminated," he continued. "I think they're gonna just say 'hey, let him go.' I deserve an answer. I pour a lot of money into that. I want an answer from them to a reason why."
Associate Athletics Director Lois Manin will serve as interim AD after Anglos leaves. A search for the new athletics director will start after the new year when new school president Wendy Hensell takes office.
KHON reached out to Gov. Green's office for comment, but it deferred to UH saying it was a "personnel matter. We also reached out to Senators Donna Kim and Michelle Kidani, who are the chair and vice-chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. Neither of them returned our calls for comment.
Angelos has been in the post since June 2023 and recently helped secure most UH teams a spot in the Mountain West Conference. Angelos was not under a contract as an at-will hire which means he could be let go or leave at any time.