Associate Head Coach Chad Konishi enters his 12th season with the Rainbows, playing a large part in the team’s success as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
Konishi’s pitching staff was consistently near the top of the Western Athletic Conference, as the team now transitions to the Big West. Along with its finish at the top of the WAC in 2006 and ’07, UH finished second only to perennial national power Rice from 2003-05.
Under Konishi, the Rainbow pitching staff earned a total of 15 all-WAC awards for 12 players: Chris George (second team, 2003), Ricky Bauer (first team, 2004), Stephen Bryant (second team, 2004; first team, 2005), Darrell Fisherbaugh (second team, 2004 and ‘05), Steven Wright (first team, 2006), Tyler Davis (first team, 2006), Justin Costi (second team, 2006), Jared Alexander (first team, 2008), Jayson Kramer (first team, 2009), Josh Slaats (second team, 2010), Lenny Linsky (second team, 2011), and Matt Sisto (second team, 2012). Along with those honors, Wright earned the WAC Pitcher of the Year award, while being named to four all-America teams in 2006.
Along with his duties with the pitching staff, Konishi also serves as the recruiting coordinator for the Rainbows. His work on the recruiting trail has received mention nationally. In 2002, Konishi pushed to sign the No. 19 recruiting class in the country, according to Collegiate Baseball. They again received mention in the magazine’s poll of recruiting classes in 2003, ranking 34th. In 2005, the UH recruiting class was ranked in the top 25 by Student Sports Baseball. The 2008 recruiting class was ranked the No. 37 recruiting class in the country by Collegiate Baseball.
Konishi came to the Rainbows after spending six seasons at the University of San Francisco as the club’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
His recruiting efforts with the Dons landed the program’s first first-team All-American. He helped coach and recruit nine players who earned All-America or freshman All-America honors, including coaching former Rainbow Gregg Omori, who was named a first-team Freshman All-American in his rookie year at San Francisco. While at USF, Konishi coached 17 all-conference players, 20 players who were drafted and eight players who signed to play independent league baseball.
He was also a part of a program that had 10 academic all-conference players and a 92-percent graduation rate in 1999.
Born in Lihue, Kaua‘i, Konishi prepped and graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu, O‘ahu, in 1989. With the Buffanblu, he was a four-time letterman, earning all-state honors in 1989 after pitching his team to a state title.
Konishi went on to pitch at California from 1990-93. He was a member of the 1992 Golden Bear squad which advanced to the College World Series under then-head coach Bob Milano. His 1991 team also made it to the Midwest Regional championship game. As a Golden Bear captain his senior campaign, he posted a 1-0 record in 22 outings with a 3.31 ERA and was named the team’s Most Inspirational Player.
Konishi dove right into coaching the following season as an undergraduate assistant for Milano at Cal in 1994 before moving on to take an assistant coaching position at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) in 1995.
During his only season with CCSF, the Rams finished sixth in the state of California with a 34-12 overall record and won the conference with a 20-8 mark. It was CCSF’s first league title in 29 years.
The 42-year-old is a 1994 graduate of California with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and he also earned a master’s degree in sports and fitness management at USF in 1997. In December 2006, Konishi married the former Mari Okimoto. They have a five-year-old son, Cooper.
