FEATURE: A New Era in Manoa
Matt Elliott’s role as the University of Hawai‘i’s 26
th athletics director melds his passions for education, athletics and his adopted home.
Following a national search, Elliott was selected by University of Hawai‘i president Wendy Hensel to serve as UH Manoa’s athletics director on June 5, 2025. His appointment was subsequently approved by the UH Board of Regents and June 30, 2025 officially marked the start of his tenure leading the state’s lone NCAA Division I athletics department.
He now leads a UH athletics department which encompasses 21 sports programs — seven men’s, 12 women’s, two co-ed — and serves more than 500 student-athletes.
Upon stepping into the AD’s role, Elliott immediately spearheaded the department’s ventures into the evolving name, image and likeness realm. He oversaw the launch of UH’s “Our Team, Hawai‘i’s Team” campaign and the establishment of the “Boost the ’Bows” fund aimed at recruiting and retaining elite talent, pursuing competitive excellence and enhancing the student-athlete experience.
Elliott arrived on the Manoa campus with a background in law and 13 years of high-level experience in intercollegiate athletics administration.
Raised in Framingham, Mass., Elliott graduated from Amherst College, where he competed with the varsity crew program. He went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Northwestern University School of Law and an offer to clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Alan Kay in Honolulu began his connection to the islands.
Elliott returned to the East Coast to begin his career in earnest with Boston-based law firm Ropes & Gray. After working with the firm’s Sports Law Group, he began his full-time association with college athletics by accepting a position in UCLA’s compliance office.
He ascended the ranks over 13 years in Westwood, rising to Senior Associate Athletics Director and eventually Chief Strategy Officer. His scope of work included sport oversight, legal affairs, government relations, head coach searches, compliance and supervision of athletic performance and sports medicine.
Elliott was also part of the team that negotiated a $280 million shoe and apparel deal, the largest in college athletics history, and helped spearhead the school’s entry into the name, image and likeness realm. Among his duties as Chief Strategy Officer was coordinating the logistics of UCLA’s landmark transition from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten and developing a five-year strategic plan.
Elliott relocated to O‘ahu in 2022 and took on a position as Senior Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF), leading advocacy strategies and working closely with state and local leaders during the legislative session.
Elliott’s move to Hawai‘i was spurred by a connection sparked during his clerkship in Honolulu nearly two decades earlier. It was during his year-long stay when Elliott met his wife, Allison, who was raised on Kaua‘i and graduated from Punahou School and Occidental College. They decided to move back to Hawai‘i to raise their son, Kai, in the islands.
#GoBows
