Marc Fournier begins his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Rainbow Wahine. Fournier’s primary responsibility is working with the team’s goalkeepers. He also oversees the program’s academic progress and helps coordinate the team’s various youth camps.
In the last three seasons, he helped mentor record-setting goalkeepers Kanani Taaca and Monk Berger. In back-to-back seasons, Taaca did not miss a single play, tallying more than 3,500 consecutive minutes in front of the net. Berger, meanwhile, enjoyed one of the best freshman seasons in program history in 2013. She set a new single-season record with seven shutouts, earned national freshman of the week honors and conference weekly honors (twice), before being named to the all-Big West freshman team at season’s end.
UH has also achieved success in the classroom under the guidance of Fournier. The program has earned a spot on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Academic Award list each of the last two years with a team GPA better than 3.0. UH also has had nearly 20 academic all-league citations over the past three seasons.
Fournier, 33, has coached on the collegiate, high school and club levels in Hawai‘i. Fournier first worked with head coach Michele Nagamine in the fall of 2009 when he helped train the goalkeepers at Kamehameha Schools. He also developed and trained girl’s U14 and over for the Le‘ahi Soccer Club.
For two years, Fournier served as the goalkeepers coach for the men’s program at HPU. In 2009, he mentored all-conference keeper Matt Terry, who was rated as the nation’s 14th-ranked keeper with a goals-against-average of 0.75. Terry also posted four shutouts while surrendering 10 goals in 14 matches. In addition to his on-field duties, Fournier also assisted in recruiting, travel, fundraising and recruiting for the Sea Warriors.
Fournier played collegiate soccer for two seasons at UH-Hilo and was a member of the inaugural team in 2006. As a senior for the Vulcans in 2007, he posted 53 saves in 18 games. He averaged 2.94 saves per match and halted 58 shots on goal, earning PacWest Conference second-team honors in the process.
Fournier, a native of the Bordeaux region in France, earned his master’s in human resource management from HPU. He graduated from UH-Hilo with a BA in geography and also holds a degree in marketing, management and sales from the University of Bordeaux.
He is married to former Rainbow Wahine soccer standout Joelle Sugai.
