There had always been, Mary Donovan remembers, something special about her eldest child Jimmy that drew people in.

As she watched from the front row as son Jim Donovan was introduced as the University of Hawai'i's 18th athletic director at a news conference yesterday, Donovan couldn't help recalling the hints and suggestions that made the day seem all but inevitable.

As a baby, she said, it was that untamable patch of curly hair that folks couldn't seem to resist mussing and fussing over. In junior high, it was the kid's maturity and charisma that earned him an invitation to leadership camp. By the time he had made it through Servite High in Anaheim, Calif., it was a take-your-pick proposition: the athletic prowess, the humility, the focus?

"At his graduation, one of the brothers told him, 'I don't know how the principal let you through,' " Mary Donovan recalls. "I wasn't sure what he meant. Later, he said that they didn't want to let him go. They wanted to keep him another three or four years."

The UH athletic department, to which Donovan had devoted nearly all of his adult life as a football player, coach and administrator, also may have wanted to keep Donovan in 2002 as it endeavored to find a replacement for then-athletic director Hugh Yoshida, one of several Donovan mentors. But apparently not enough to grant him an interview for a job that eventually went to recently ousted Herman Frazier.

And so Donovan departed to become executive director of the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, a position he held until this week, when the Board of Regents approved a recommendation from a selection committee headed by Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw to name Donovan as Frazier's successor.

Donovan's deal is for five years with a salary expected to be $240,000 annually, plus bonuses.

The decision has elicited near unanimous excitement from those in and around the department, as well as an extended family of UH fans and supporters disenchanted with the department's previous administration.

"I'm really pleased for the university and for Jim," said football coach Greg McMackin. "It was a good process and there were great candidates. I think Jim deserves the job based on his past experiences with the university and his record of successes."

Women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji served on the selection committee and said he backed Donovan's candidacy.

"He's very deserving," Shoji said. "I've always thought we should have somebody who was a player, a coach and administrator. He's come up through the ranks. I think he understands where coaches are coming from and he had a good mentor in (former AD) Stan Sheriff. I think he'll listen to the coaches, which I feel is really, really important."

'HE BLEEDS GREEN'

Friends and family said Donovan's emotional address yesterday spoke to his long-held desire to assume the reigns of the department, which has endured a roller-coaster ride the past few months with the unprecedented success of the 2007 football team, the departure of revered football coach June Jones and the subsequent firing-by-agreement of Frazier.

"It's good to be home," a tearful Donovan said in his opening remarks yesterday.

And, in fact, it was Donovan's earnest identification of UH as home that bolstered his already strong candidacy, Hinshaw said.

"He bleeds green," Hinshaw said. "Clearly he's an experienced leader with a lot of athletics-related background. He has great communication skills, he knows what it takes to bring people together and he's very good at laying out plans. On top of that, he has a passion for the athletic department and for the university."

Raised in Anaheim, Donovan arrived at UH in 1981 and was quickly enamored of the state and its people. His embrace of the local culture was nurtured by Dee Dee and the late John Awana, who introduced themselves to the young prospect during football practice one day and invited him to eat breakfast with their family on Sundays.

"They said that they knew I didn't have any family here," Donovan said. "They said they'd pick me up and drop me off, so I said OK and they treated me to some of the best cornbread I'd ever eaten in my life. I got to know their family and they treated me like I was part of their family. That's what Hawai'i is all about, people like that."

Donovan would go on to become an all-conference honorable mention at offensive guard and earn a bachelor's degree in geography. He later earned an executive master's degree in business administration at UH.

'SOMEDAY' ARRIVES

In 1984, Donovan took his first administrative job at the department as manager of what was then Rainbow Stadium. Three years later, he was named sports marketing director, and later, in 1993, assistant athletic director for administrative services under Yoshida.

At yesterday's conference, Donovan recalled a memo he received from the athletic director while he was managing the baseball stadium. The memo informed administrators that there would be a reduction in student help. At the time, all of Donovan's staff were student helpers.

"I thought to myself, 'Someday, I'll be in that office and I'll be writing those stupid memos,' " he said.

While Donovan said it was not his specific goal to eventually become the athletic director, he did acknowledge that each position he has held since his time as stadium manager has prepared him to now assume that position.

"He's worked very hard in all the areas and all the positions he's held and I'm very delighted he got the job," said Yoshida, one of several people Donovan acknowledged as being mentors. "He's a person that is very dedicated, he has a good handle on the program and he's a person we can trust. We'll support (him) because he'll lead by example."

And while not getting the AD position in 2002 may have seemed like a setback, Donovan said the experience he gained by leading the Hawai'i Bowl ("a multimillion-dollar corporation") and the extensive relationships he built downtown through that job better prepared him when his name was finally called.

"The old adage applies: You have to go away to come back," said Donovan's wife, Tracy Orillo Donovan, who attended the press conference with their children, Jackie and Joshua.

APOLOGY FOR TURMOIL

Donovan returns to the department at a crucial juncture. The success of UH's football team last year was a source of state pride, but it also shined a light on poor facilities and other shortcomings within the department.

With the departure of Jones to Southern Methodist and the resultant backlash against Frazier, UH fans have held their breath, and in some instances their checkbooks, waiting to see who would emerge as the new leader of the department.

Donovan's supporters say he is the right person to capitalize on the renewed enthusiasm for UH sports and to soothe feathers ruffled by what was widely perceived as his predecessor's unresponsiveness within the department and aloofness within the community.

Yesterday, Donovan apologized for the turmoil surrounding the department over the past few months and repeatedly emphasized his belief that UH's athletics programs "belong to the people of Hawai'i."

"I sense there may have been a drift in understanding that everyone in Hawai'i is a stakeholder in our program," Donovan said later. "No one person is bigger than UH athletics. All I can do is give my word that our staff will try every day to show their appreciation and thanks to the people of Hawai'i for all of the support they give us."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.