Since becoming the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in March 2010, Gib Arnold has changed the culture of Rainbow Warrior basketball. After inheriting a program mired in three straight losing seasons, Arnold went “All In.” The result: a rejuvenated UH basketball program and a winning foundation for years to come.
In three seasons under Arnold, the Rainbow Warriors have won 52 games, including 19 wins and a post-season appearance in his 2010-11 debut season. The 43-year-old Arnold has reached 50 wins faster than any coach in program history and has led UH to the postseason in two of his first three years, a feat matched by only one other UH coach.
The program has also excelled in the classroom. In the summer of 2012, the NCAA cited UH with a Public Recognition Award for posting multi-year scores in the top 10 percent in all of college basketball. Later that fall, the program achieved its highest semester grade point average on record.
Arnold has been a relentless recruiter, attracting players from far and wide to Hawai‘i. Aside from top-notch American talent, his signing classes have sported an international flair with players hailing from Angola, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Latvia, New Zealand and Serbia.
Arnold’s first UH recruiting class was rated fifth-best in the nation by The Hoop Scoop. Arnold meshed that class with a sparse, yet talented, group of returning upperclassmen to complete a remarkable turnaround season in 2010-11. UH finished the year with 19 wins, nearly doubling its win total (10) from the year prior. The 19 wins were the most for the school in seven years and tied Arnold with Bruce O’Neil for the most wins in program history by a first-year head coach.
The year concluded with a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and a victory in its first-round game versus Portland. It was the program’s first postseason appearance and first postseason win since 2003-04. Arnold received national acclaim from
Athlon Sports who named him one of the five best first-year coaches in 2010-11 after working “a minor miracle” at UH.
His second season saw the continued ascent of the program, highlighted by signature wins over Xavier and Clemson in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. The win over the No. 14 Musketeers, who went on to the NCAA Sweet 16, was the program’s first over a nationally ranked team in six years. Later in the season, the Rainbow Warriors advanced to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time in nearly a decade.
The 2012-13 season saw the Rainbow Warriors notch another winning record under Arnold. The year was highlighted with the team’s second Outrigger Hotels and Rainbow Classic title in three years, a winning record in the program’s inaugural season in the Big West and yet another bid into the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
It was only inevitable that Arnold would one day lead his own Division I program. Arnold was tabbed by numerous outlets as one of the nation’s top assistants and recruiters after serving for schools in the Pac-10, Southeastern Conference and West Coast Conference. He also boasted head coaching experience having guided junior-college power College of Southern Idaho for two seasons.
It was even more fitting he would make the leap at Hawai‘i, where he was named the program’s 19th head coach. Arnold returns to Hawai‘i following the footsteps of his father Frank who served as UH head basketball coach for two seasons at UH (1985-87).
Prior to arriving in Hawai‘i, Arnold coached at USC where he was an assistant for five seasons. He was instrumental in helping USC achieve a record three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, three straight 20-win seasons and the winningest five-year stretch in school history. In 2009, Arnold helped USC capture the inaugural Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, hosted by Hawai‘i. Arnold was the lead recruiter for former Trojan standouts DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson, both of whom were selected in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft, as well as 2011 first-round pick Nikola Vucevic.
During his career, Arnold has recruited more than 20 international players to play college basketball in the United States. Two of those players eventually went on to the NBA, including Vucevic (Montenegro) and Yakouba Diawara (France).
Arnold first received recognition for his coaching prowess while an assistant at Pepperdine. He spent four seasons (2000-03) there as the Waves won more Division I games in his tenure than during any other four-year span in school history. For his work,
Athlon Sports named Arnold one of the top 10 Division I assistants in the country.
In between stints at USC and Pepperdine, Arnold spent two seasons as the head men’s basketball coach at the College of Southern Idaho, where he posted a 57-14 record, including a 33-3 mark in his second season. His Golden Eagles won the 2005 Scenic West Athletic Conference title and the Region 18 Tournament and advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association tourney, where they finished third. In 2004, CSI went 24-11, won the Region 18 tourney and advanced to the NJCAA tournament. He was named District 13 Coach of the Year in both of his years there and during that time mentored 17 players that eventually earned Division I scholarships.
Arnold’s coaching journey has also taken him to Loyola Marymount, Vanderbilt, Utah Valley State College and Provo High School as an assistant coach.
A graduate of Punahou School, Arnold was a prep All-American and Hawai‘i’s high school Gatorade Player of the Year. He began his collegiate playing career at Arizona State, where his father was an assistant coach. He then went on a two-year Mormon mission to Munich, Germany, and upon his return, played at Dixie State College in Utah. Arnold completed his college career at UC San Diego, where he helped the Tritons to a school-record 17 consecutive wins and a No. 3 national ranking in NCAA Division III.
Arnold earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from BYU in 1994. He and his wife, Lisa, have five children: Analise (17), Ashton (15), Ally (13), Addison (11) and Ace (7).
Arnold’s File
Years at UH: Fourth season
UH and Career Record: 54-44
Alma Mater: Brigham Young (1994)
Coaching Experience
2010-, Hawai‘i, Head Coach
2005-10, USC, Assistant Coach
2003-05, College of Southern Idaho, Head Coach
1999-2003, Pepperdine, Assistant Coach
1998-99, Vaqnderbilt, Assistant Coach
1996-98, Loyola Marymount, Assistant Coach
1995-96, Utah Valley State, Assistant Coach
1994-95, Provo High School, Assistant Coach
Arnold’s Coaching Records
Hawai‘i (Head Coach)
Season W L Pct. W L Pct. Postseason
2010-11 19 13 .594 8 8 .500 CIT First Round
2011-12 16 16 .500 6 8 .429
2012-13 17 15 .531 10 8 .556 CIT Second Round
Totals 52 44 .542 24 24 .500
