Heather Olmstead brings a decorated head coaching resume to the University of Hawai‘i women’s volleyball team in joining the Rainbow Wahine as associate head coach for the 2026 season.
Olmstead comes to Manoa after a highly successful run as head coach at Brigham Young for 11 seasons. She will serve on the UH coaching staff through the end of the 2026 season, Joshua Walker’s inaugural campaign as UH head coach.
Olmstead took over the BYU program in 2015 and guided the Cougars to a 279-55 record and was named the 2018 AVCA National Coach of the Year. Her .835 winning percentage ranked fourth among active Division I coaches when she closed out her career with the Cougars. She picked up her 200th win on Sept. 24, 2022, becoming the fastest coach in Division I history to reach the milestone (225 games) and surpassing the previous record held by legendary UH coach Dave Shoji (236 games). Olmstead was also the third-fastest to 100 wins (111 games).
Olmstead led BYU to six West Coast Conference championships and is a four-time WCC Coach of the Year and three-time AVCA Pacific South Region Coach of the Year. The Cougars made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in her 11 years and advanced to the Sweet 16 five times and reached the Final Four in 2018. They spent 11 weeks at No. 1 during the 2018 season and finished the 2021 season at No. 4 in the AVCA poll at 31-2.
During Olmstead’s tenure, the Cougars earned 29 AVCA All-America awards, 41 All-Region awards, four Academic All-America awards and 20 Academic All-District honors.
Olmstead served as an assistant coach with the Cougars from 2011-14 and helped BYU reach the 2014 NCAA final. She also worked on the coaching staffs at Utah State (2003-05) and Utah (2006-10).
Olmstead also owns a sparkling resume with USA Volleyball in leading the U21 national team to gold at the 2025 NORCECA Pan American Cup and the 2024 NORCECA Women’s Continental Cup. She served as an assistant coach with the gold medal winning at the 2022 Pan American Cup and 2015 Pan American Games. She also served as head coach for the 2019 U.S. Collegiate National Teamand the was an assistant with the 2020 Collegiate National Gold team.
Olmstead is currently the head coach of the USA Volleyball U17 team this summer in the FIVB Girls U17 World Championship set for Aug. 6-16 in Santiago, Chile.
Coaching Experience
- Brigham Young, Head Coach (2015-25)
- Brigham Young, Assistant Coach (2011-14)
- Utah, Assistant Coach (2006-10)
- Utah State, Assistant Coach (2003-05)
Playing Experience
Education
- Utah State (2002), family and consumer science
Hometown
