Charlie Wade earns Big West Coach of the Year

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa men’s volleyball program continued its run of excellence this week when Head Coach Charlie Wade was named Big West Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons. Wade received the honor after guiding the Rainbow Warriors to their fourth Big West Championship title.

In a vote of conference coaches and media, Wade edged out a strong field to claim his third Coach of the Year award, having previously earned co-Coach of the Year honors in 2022 and winning outright in 2023. This season, UH finished 26–5 overall and won consecutive tournament matches over UC Irvine in the semifinal and top-seeded Long Beach State in the championship final.

In his 16th season at the helm, Wade has guided Hawaiʻi to two NCAA titles (2021, 2022), four Big West tournament championships (2019, 2022, 2023, 2025) and two regular-season crowns (2021, 2023). Under his leadership, the Rainbow Warriors have appeared in seven NCAA tournaments, including the upcoming 2025 field in Columbus, Ohio, where UH will enter as the No. 2 overall seed and face either Daemen or Penn State in the quarterfinals.

Friday’s come-from-behind semifinal victory over UC Irvine also marked Wade’s 317th career win, making him the winningest coach in program history. He surpassed longtime mentor Mike Wilton and now ranks fifth among active coaches in NCAA Division I–II. Wade also joined an elite group of just 22 coaches in NCAA history to record more than 300 career victories.

Long Beach State freshman Moni Nikolov swept both Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors after leading the conference in assists and orchestrating the nation’s top-ranked offense.

For more go to HawaiiAthletics.com.