Hawaii may be a beautiful state, but its university's college athletics program is not right now. The Rainbow Warriors announced on Tuesday that it will fire athletic director Craig Angelos, and top NIL booster Mike Kawazoe isn't pleased.

Kawazoe, who heads the Rainbow Warriors NIL Collective, will pull all funding immediately, according to news network KHON2.

“Effective immediately, I'll be taking down all of my banners with my companies from UH. I'm cutting off all money going towards athletics immediately,” Kawazoe said.

Angelos only held the position for 18 months, but had already done good work for the school's athletics. The former Florida Atlantic AD successfully negotiated full membership for Hawaii in the Mountain West conference, removing travel subsidies that resulted in about $1 million of annual savings for the athletic department. He also got chartered flights for Rainbow Warriors football and raised over $600,000 for the department through a grassroots campaign.

However, no official reason was given for the firing, and Kawazoe isn't happy.

“I think he was the right man for the job, I believe he had the vision,” he continued. “Now I don't know what the vision is, I don't know where UH is headed. Sometimes in life, you gotta recognize a bad investment when you see it, and this looks like a bad investment.”

Hawaii football heads into a confusing era

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Until Hawaii president David Lassner explains the school's reasoning, it won't be an attractive destination for other AD candidates or NIL donors.

“Not everyone has all the facts, and we don't know. But on its surface, lack of response, what I've seen smelled. Craig's been doing a good job, maybe ruffled some feathers,” Kawazoe continued. “I would be stunned for the university to give us an answer on why he was terminated. I think they're just gonna say ‘hey, we let him go.' I deserve an answer. I pour a lot of money into that, I want an answer from them as to the reason why.”

Rich Miano, a former Hawaii football player and coach and current commentator, echoes Kawazoe's sentiments, via KHO2's Rob DeMello.

“When you think it was 18 months ago where they started, [he was] not really given a chance to show he could do the things that need to be done. And here we go again,” Miano said. “It seems like only in Hawaii could this even be possible… But he has a family. He has invested sweat equity into this program. And for this to happen, people are still trying to figure out how it happened, why it happened, and the timing of it.”

Now, the school's athletic department enters uncharted territory. While it's good to be in the Mountain West, one of the most prominent non-Power 5 conferences in the NCAA, it now heads into its new era with no leader.