Michele “Bud” Nagamine begins her fourth year as head women’s soccer coach at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Just the second coach in the 20-year history of the program, Nagamine has been the driving force in UH’s resurgence with her energy, passion and knowledge of the game.
Nagamine has exceeded preseason expectations in each of her three seasons at the helm of the Rainbow Wahine, not surprising considering her track record of building winners.
Wins did not come easy in her first season. UH faced a brutally tough preseason schedule—four of its ?rst ?ve opponents eventually advanced to the NCAA Tournament. However, that difficult schedule more than prepared the team for its final season in the Western Athletic Conference as a team that was predicted to ?nish seventh in the preseason poll was remarkably in championship contention until the ?nal weekend of the regular season. UH ultimately finished third in the final standings and qualified for the WAC tournament for the first time in three years.
The resurgence continued in 2012. UH captured a pair of preseason tournaments and tied a school record by going undefeated in seven straight matches. Nagamine also successfully guided the team during its transition in the ultra-competitive Big West Conference. After being picked last in the preseason poll, the Rainbow Wahine won three matches and claimed sixth in the 10-team league. By season’s end, the team posted its highest win total (8) since 2008.
The 2013 season brought even more success: an end to four straight losing seasons; the team’s first winning road record in 10 years; back-to-back wins over Pac-12 squads; another step up the conference standings; and six all-conference and one all-region nod for her players.
Prior to UH, Nagamine, 45, had already made her mark on the club, high school and collegiate levels with a reputation as a program builder. She has been named a conference coach of the year, won numerous state titles in high school and guided one of the elite club programs in the West region.
Nagamine spent three years as the head women’s soccer coach at Hawai‘i Pacific University, where she turned a losing program into a conference contender. She inherited a team that won just three games in 2007 and by her second year lifted the team to a 10-8-1 record and a third-place finish in the PacWest Conference. For her efforts, she was named the 2009 PacWest Coach of the Year. In her third season, the Division II Lady Sea Warriors finished with their second straight winning record and were the only team in the nation during the regular season to defeat BYU-Hawai‘i, which was ranked No. 1 in the West region.
While at the helm of the Lady Sea Warriors soccer program, she recruited a conference goalkeeper of the year, a conference newcomer of the year and six all-conference players. She also oversaw academic improvement as the team increased its GPA to above 3.0.
Prior to joining HPU, Nagamine established herself as one of the most successful coaches in all of Hawai‘i high school athletics. As head coach of the Kamehameha Schools girl’s soccer team since 1991, she won five Hawai‘i state championships and six Interscholastic League of Honolulu titles. Nagamine was named ILH Coach of the Year a league-record seven times and was a five-time selection as state coach of the year.
Nagamine also received national recognition for her work at Kamehameha. She has been named state coach of the year five times and Far West Region coach of the year two times by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, the governing body of United States soccer coaches. In 2007, she was named the NSCAA National High School Coach of the Year after guiding the Warriors to an undefeated (11-0-2) season and a second consecutive Hawai‘i state championship.
Nagamine has also displayed a golden touch on the club level. As the technical director for Le‘ahi Soccer Club since 2002, she has overseen the direction and operation of Hawai‘i’s largest and most competitive girl’s soccer club. During that span, she helped grow the club from four teams to 26 teams. By creating a competitive travel schedule for premier teams, she helped numerous players obtain athletic or academic scholarships in numerous college programs.
Nagamine also boasts extensive business experience. She was the owner of her own marketing group as well as a soccer retail store. From 2001-11, she was the director of sports marketing and sales for Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, where she oversaw the operations of all sports bookings within all Outrigger properties.
The Honolulu native is a 1990 graduate of Santa Clara University in California where she was the captain of the 1990 Bronco women’s soccer team that reached the NCAA semifinals.
