University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Athletics reached new levels of national visibility in 2025, with leadership news and on-field success capturing attention across the college sports landscape.
A story announcing Matt Elliott as UH Mānoa’s next athletic director ranked among the top 10 most-read items of the year in D1.ticker, a widely read newsletter for NCAA Division I athletics decision-makers. Elliott’s appointment reflects growing interest in UH’s athletic leadership among national audiences.
On the field, the Hawaiʻi Bowl, which saw the Rainbow Warriors win in a nail-biting finish over Cal, drew an estimated 2.7 million viewers, placing the game in the top 14 nationally among non-College Football Playoff bowl games.
“These metrics show two sides of national visibility—industry attention and fan engagement,” UH Mānoa Communication Program Professor Wayne Buente said. “Being widely read by athletic directors and administrators through D1.ticker, while also drawing millions of viewers to a Hawaiʻi Bowl broadcast, reflects UH Mānoa Athletics’ growing relevance across the college sports landscape. The Hawaiʻi Bowl being on traditional mass media has a wide reach and the UH Athletics social media team did a great job latching onto that event and building strong engagement over the holidays.”
The Hawaiʻi Bowl’s high viewership was accompanied by strong engagement on UH Athletics’ social media channels. Between December 24 and 26, football posts on official X, Facebook and Instagram accounts generated more than 5.5 million impressions, 209,416 engagements and more than 1.2 million video views. These numbers were a result of 36 posts on X, 24 on Facebook and 26 on Instagram during the holiday period that kept fans engaged and amplified excitement around the team’s successes.
The Communication Program is housed in the School of Communication and Information in the UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences.
