[ UH ATHLETICS ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH associate athletic director John McNamara says he likes to think outside the box and find creative solutions to problems.
UH’s new associate AD
big on work ethicMcNamara likes to involve
people in solving problems
John McNamara says he likes to solve problems through working with groups and developing consensus.
Maybe it stems from being raised with nine brothers and sisters in a three-bedroom house in Toledo, Ohio.
Being part of such a big family is also how the University of Hawaii's new associate athletic director in charge of external affairs got used to hard work.
"Early on we realized that work ethic is very important. And because we had 10 kids we realized the importance of getting along with each other. There weren't too many introverts in our family," he said.
John McNamara
1999-2003: Conference USA associate commissioner for external affairs1995-99: Western Athletic Conference associate commissioner
1991-95: Mid-American Conference assistant commissioner
1988-91: University of Toledo sports information director
1985-88: University of Toledo assistant sports information director
Hobby: Golf
Age: 41
College: BA, Toledo, communications
Family: Single
Of interest: Youngest brother, Denny McNamara, was an All-America baseball player at Central Michigan and played three season in the Tigers' minor league system. ... John McNamara was the youngest sports information director at a Division I-A school at age 25 in 1988.
McNamara didn't have time to play sports in high school because he worked at least 20 hours every week to pay for his tuition at an exclusive private school. He was a janitor and a busboy, and did any other odd jobs he could find.
"It was difficult, but our parents made it clear that education was important, and that if we wanted anything in life we would have to work for it," he said.
There was time for sandlot games, though.
"Every chance we got. With us having 10 and the O'Donnells down the street with 10, all you had to do was knock on two doors and you've got a baseball game," McNamara said.
McNamara, 41, spent his first two weeks at UH knocking on doors throughout the sports community here, getting to know some of the major players on and off campus and re-acquainting himself with those at Manoa whom he'd already known and worked with. Although he is coming in from the cold of Chicago's Conference USA offices, where he was an associate commissioner, that isn't true figuratively; "Johnny Mac" is well-known and well-liked at UH from his days working for the Western Athletic Conference in the 1990s. Also, his new boss, athletic director Herman Frazier, knows McNamara from Frazier's previous AD post at Alabama-Birmingham.
"We're only going to bring in quality people who want to be in Hawaii," Frazier said. "John McNamara is that kind of person, and he understands the business from many different angles. He's been on our campus before, and he's been involved with many different schools and two conferences. He's had working relationships with more than 40 different schools. He completes a big part of our puzzle."
McNamara's role isn't completely defined yet, but he is responsible for areas including marketing, branding, licensing, advertising and media and community relations. He hopes to create an advisory board of representatives from various parts of the community to help him learn more about what people want from UH sports.
Karl Benson, his boss when he worked for the WAC, described McNamara as "creative and sincere."
McNamara said he enjoys listening to other people's concerns and coming up with unique solutions to problems.
"I think I've always taken an outside-the-box attitude toward every project," McNamara said. "Simply because it's been done one way doesn't mean there aren't other ways to do it. I think the one skill I've developed is I like to solicit opinions and get a lot of feedback. I like to build consensus and from that you can really develop something that is really creative."
Those skills will be put to the test, as controversial issues such as UH's plethora of nicknames and the future of unofficial mascot Vili "The Warrior" Fehoko find their way to McNamara's in box.
"I've spent my two weeks on the job not trying to develop an opinion on (the nickname issue) as much as getting the background on it and talking to a lot of people about where they stand on it," McNamara said. "We've had some conversations (about the mascot). It comes under branding. Does our brand communicate the message we want? We have to look at everything that represents our department, including the mascot. Because nothing that we do can be outside that brand."
He said working in conference offices prepares him well for a wide variety of issues that might come up.
"When you work at one school, you can lose sense of the big picture, that these problems are not unique to you and your university," he said. "I've been fortunate to be in situations to observe the good and the bad and take away from that what was a good course of action and what was a nonproductive one. Being exposed to so many different athletic departments was kind of neat."
McNamara also figures to be involved as UH and the NFL determine how their partnership regarding the Pro Bowl will take shape. As part of a tentative agreement arrived at in contract talks between the NFL and the state last month, the UH athletic department will assist the NFL in putting on its annual all-star game at Aloha Stadium.
"The potential in that relationship is outstanding. Currently we don't have a clear picture of exactly what it will be, but it is promising," he said. "Why not enlist the professional folks we have here to do some of the things they're flying folks out here to do at high expense?"
McNamara said such a partnership will not be undertaken if it costs UH more money than it would produce.
Toward the end of an hourlong conversation in his neat office, the consensus theme recurs.
"Getting as many voices involved as possible is important, because more people feel a responsibility to make it successful," McNamara said. "If you make decisions in a vacuum and try to cram it down their throat, they don't feel any responsible to make it successful. Then they feel, 'if it fails, it fails.' That's not the way to do it.
"The fortunate thing in this business is everything is very subjective. There's no one way to do anything. You can be creative," he added. "The downside is you're always subject to criticism."
