Joshua Walker's Hawai‘i homecoming was only supposed to be for a few days. He'd coach three matches with Baylor in the Stan Sheriff Center, then head back to Texas for the rest of the season.
In April, Baylor announced its schedule for the 2026 season. The headliner as far as Island volleyball fans were concerned was the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, set to feature host Hawai‘i, San Diego, Georgia Southern and Baylor, where Walker, who was then the associate head coach for the Bears, would coach at the Stan Sheriff Center for the first time since he was part of the UH men's staff in 2023.
Suddenly, Hawai‘i women's head coach Robyn Ah Mow resigned, leading the school down a lengthy search for her successor. It took UH athletics director Matt Elliott over a month to land on Walker, who was announced as the head coach of his alma mater on June 5.
On Friday night, Walker coached his first official match as the new head coach for the Rainbow Wahine, leading the 'Bows to a 25-18, 25-20, 17-25, 25-18 victory over Georgia Southern.
Then on Saturday night, Walker was tasked with coaching against Baylor, the same team he was a vital part of mere months before. The Bears, who entered the tournament ranked No. 21 in the AVCA-Taraflex Division I preseason poll, were the presumptive favorites of the tournament as the only ranked team in the field.
A game plan put together by Walker and assistant coach Will McDonald, who followed Walker from Baylor to Hawai‘i, nearly led an early signature win for both Walker and the Rainbow Wahine. The 'Bows took the Bears to five sets, but Baylor ultimately leaned on its experience and talent for a 25-17, 14-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-9 victory. After the match, Walker was seen joking and hugging his former players as both sides wished each other the best of luck moving forward.
Members of Baylor's team hug Hawai‘i head coach and former Bear assistant Joshua Walker following Saturday's five-set match. Photo by Christian Shimabuku (Aloha State Daily Staff) 
A Baylor player jokes with Hawai‘i head coach and former Bear assistant Joshua Walker following Saturday's five-set match. Photo by Christian Shimabuku (Aloha State Daily Staff)
"We didn't have to spend as much time with the scout, especially with Will, because we know that team well, and we know kind of where their strengths are and what they're still trying to get better at," Walker said following the Baylor match. "I love this job. You get to work with very intelligent young women across across the country, and there's a lot of teams, but it's really a small world. The relationships that you build last forever, and yeah, love that group, love that team. Expect them to do very well. We need them to do well for sure now (for RPI purposes), and we got to make sure we do our part and make sure we're we're taking care of business the rest of the way ourselves."
While a return to his alma mater and his wife Tehane's home state is what brought Walker back to the Islands, it was fate that led Walker to leave the UH men's team in favor of Waco, Texas in 2023.
In 2019, Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre was named the AVCA National Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to a 29-2 record and Final Four appearance. That same year, Walker was named the AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year as an assistant on Charlie Wade's staff. That year, the Rainbow Warriors went 28-3, finishing as national runners-up.
McGuyre's acceptance speech, in which he talked about God, family and volleyball as his order of priorities, resonated with Walker, the young father of a growing family. Walker felt compelled to email McGuyre words of admiration and encouragement, and McGuyre found there were many ways in which the two could relate. McGuyre, a star club volleyball player at Biola, coached both men's and women's teams at California Baptist before making the permanent move to the women's side as an assistant coach at Maryland in 2012. Coincidentally, McGuyre is married to former UH women's volleyball player Jennifer (née Roberts) McGuyre.
"Just high-level volleyball, that IQ. I try to hire people smarter than me, and feel like God's the head coach as well. I think he was really faithful because Hawai‘i tried really hard to keep him on the men's side," McGuyre recalled to Aloha State Daily. "Because he did it, he has a great feel for the women's game, and that's what opened the door here, and so it worked out the way it was meant to be.
"He's not just a great coach, but a great man, great husband, great father. His emotional IQ is strong. His wisdom is strong. He's a really good relational coach, which allows him to be an intense and intentional coach in the right way that's well received by players. I know he's the right guy for the right job here. I think they're gonna see some great things."
Hawai‘i's match against Baylor surpassed three hours, and the Rainbow Wahine had to turn around and face San Diego at 5 p.m. on Sunday. With tired legs, the 'Bows were swept 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 to end the weekend after hitting .078 as a team.
Though its Saturday five-setter against Baylor showed the potential that exists among the group, Sunday's match proved to the 'Bows there's also plenty of room for improvement.
"I don't really think we were thinking of the rankings, but we know Baylor has always been a top-notch program," said junior libero and defensive specialist Victoria Leyva, one of three captains on the team. "Just seeing us go to five and competing out there really showed what we can do as a team, and I think (Sunday) we saw what we really, really need to improve on.
"So, we were able to see both sides of the spectrum of how great our team can be and how much improvement our team needs. I think that's a great thing to go back to on the drawing board, go back into practice, and see what we really need to focus on."
Next up for the Rainbow Wahine is the Outrigger Invitational. The 'Bows will host Utah Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m., Loyola Marymount on Friday at 7 p.m., and UC San Diego on Sunday at 5 p.m.
While Baylor loaded up its Polynesian Tours bus and made its way back to Waco after a 3-0 opening weekend, Walker is staying in Mānoa for the long haul with the 1-2 Rainbow Wahine.
"Once again, just blessed to be here, blessed to have the moments that we have. Even the losses are a blessing because it's an opportunity for us to learn. Now we got to use it," Walker said. "We got to make sure we capitalize off of what's going on. Baylor's going to do what Baylor's going to do, and for us, we got to make sure that we represent this tournament well and everybody who chose to compete against us and make sure we take care of the other games throughout the rest of the season.
"To me, this is just the beginning of the season. If we're saying 'OK, the season's ending now,' probably not too happy. We got a long way to go, so we're going to use every day that we can and make sure we get better to make sure that next weekend is better than this past weekend."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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