MĀNOA — Fifteen years running a collegiate program can feel like a long time for a modern coach like Michele Nagamine, what with all the recent changes in the landscape. In the same breath, 15 years has been a gift.
Preparation for the 2026 season is underway for Nagamine and the University of Hawai‘i soccer team, with official practices beginning in recent days.
"Anytime we get to experience doing a job that we absolutely love, I've been very fortunate over the years to have only jobs that I've been very passionate about," said Nagamine, who was Outrigger's director of sports marketing and sales from 2001 to 2011 before departing to take the gig at UH. "I had my dream job when I was working with Outrigger Hotels. Getting into the corporate world, you sometimes lose track of just the little people. So, getting to come back to University of Hawai‘i, I always thought, how did (former head coach) Pinsoom Tenzing last 17 years?
"Coaching collegiate soccer with the travel schedule and just all the demands that you sacrifice on a personal level: family time, birthday parties, weddings, funerals. Sometimes it's just been a really long road, but just so gratifying. I can't believe that it's been 15 years. But I've watched the program grow. I watched our university evolve and really change with the times. And I thank every athletic director who's been a part of my journey because it's just been incredible. And to get to do this every day, work with my friends who are family. It's just such a blessing, and it does not escape me."
Another major change is on the horizon for the the Rainbow Wahine, who are competing in the Mountain West Conference for the first time after spending the last 14 years in the Big West. The 'Bows will open conference play on Sunday, Sept. 27, at Air Force.
"Mountain West presents a completely different opportunity for us. It will not be without the obvious challenges," said Nagamine, who has mentioned further travel, as well as elevation and altitude in Mountain West cities. "But I think when we are put to task, I think we're going to perform very well under the pressure. We stress to the players to just focus on all of the controllables. Make sure we do the little things well. Make sure that we prepare. We don't take anything for granted, and now we get to go and increase our fan base and spread the aloha a little bit more east, and we're really excited about that."
On Tuesday, heavy Mānoa rain moved the Rainbow Wahine's morning practice from its new grass practice field on campus to the turf surface of the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. As the 'Bows were going through a four corner drill, Nagamine and associate head coach Ula Rowe shared a laugh when reminiscing about their Kamehameha days.
Back when Rowe played for Nagamine as a student at Kamehameha, she remembered how her intense nature had players in an uptight mood. Nagamine has surely lightened up since then.
"I was really a tough coach when Ula was in high school. Just the evolution. I think, of the coaching profession, it's always been about people," Nagamine said. "I truly believe that as the kids got more informed and just behavior was highlighted, and bad behavior was highlighted on social media, their voices got louder and louder and more powerful. So, the coaches that didn't learn how to adapt to this new generation of players that are informed and thinking and opinionated and just a lot more in touch with things than than we were on just a social consciousness level, those coaches that were not able to work with and identify what was important to those modern players, they kind of went the way of the dodo."
Hawai‘i will officially begin its 2026 season on Aug. 13 against Texas Tech at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex. Prior to that, the Rainbow Wahine will play Seattle University in an Aug. 9 exhibition on Maui, where both teams will pay tribute to victims of the 2023 Maui wildfires.
"Anytime we have a chance to get to the Neighbor Islands and share the love, all of our fans who are out there, we get a lot of text calls during the season, always wishing us the best. It really means a lot to us that we're able to get out there and not only perform a really important community service, but to also honor the people who lost their lives in the Lahaina fires," Nagamine said. "That is something that hit all of us really hard. We all have family and friends on Maui, and it just is such a luxury for us to be able to work with a group like Seattle University to put on an event of this magnitude. It's a pretty big deal. It's going to be awesome."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
