UH Is A Family: Josh Walker Talks Past, Present And Future

As a former player turned Assistant Coach for the Men’s Volleyball team, Josh Walker is very familiar with how much the sport and the team means to the people of Hawai‘i.

“When I first came to Hawai‘i as a freshmen, I didn’t realize how big the fanbase was until I went to Times Supermarket and, while I was shopping, someone recognized me as a player on the Volleyball team,” he recalled. “I hadn’t even played a game yet. That’s when I realized that things were different here.”

In 2006, Walker joined the Rainbow Warriors Volleyball team coming from Virginia Beach, Va. —not a particular hotbed for volleyball recruiting. But over the span of his collegiate career, playing for four seasons until graduation in 2011, Walker proved to be a consistently strong player, leading the team in kills as an outside hitter and being named an All-American in his junior season. 

Following graduation, Walker went on to play professionally in numerous countries around the world, including Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, Netherlands, and Finland. But eventually, in 2016, Walker would have his homecoming when he returned to Hawai‘i and to join the UH coaching staff under head coach Charlie Wade.

“It was huge,” Walker stated in regards to coming back. “I definitely felt that we had some unfinished business.” 

Upon returning to UH, Walker looked at his new position as a chance to improve upon the results from his collegiate years. He put it upon himself to help his team play at a higher standard that was expected from themselves and from the fans. “In my senior year of college, the goal was to win a national championship but we didn’t quite get there.” 

In 2021, the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team took home the NCAA title — a first in the program’s history. Since joining in 2016, Walker and his team has had a streak of success and accolades, including four NCAA tournament appearances, a 2019 AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year award, and most recently a Big West Tournament title in April. 

Even then, Walker still has a lot to look forward to. Of course there is this year’s NCAA Tournament in which UH will defend its title as the No. 3 seed. Outside the volleyball court, Walker just welcomed the birth of his fourth child with his wife Tehane Higa, a former UH soccer player. And after the season ends, he’ll be taking his newly expanded family on a journey. Walker departs UH to become an assistant coach with the Baylor women’s volleyball program. 

“I want to see if I can help Baylor get a national championship,” he said. “They’ve come close, and right now, they’re really knocking on the door.”

Although Walker is leaving, his heart still lies with the team here at UH, stating that he wishes to gain experience and knowledge at Baylor so that one day he may return to UH as a head coach. “It’s bittersweet leaving, but it’s not the end of these relationships that I’ve developed here,” he said.

Walker stated that even after moving away from the islands, he still wishes to keep in contact with the people and coaches he knows here, not just as colleagues, but as friends. “UH is a family,” he said. “The team is in a great place and it’s going to continue to keep on building.”

Walker looks back at his time here in Hawai'i as helping him become the kind of person he is today. He then went on to say, “Hawai'i will always be home.”

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