Wade Named Big West Coach of the Year For Third Time

IRVINE, Calif. – University of Hawai’i head coach Charlie Wade was named the Big West Men’s Volleyball Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons after leading the Rainbow Warriors to the Big West Championship title over the weekend.
 
Wade was also named Coach of the Year in 2022 (co-COY) and 2023.
 
In his 16^th season at UH, he has guided Hawai’i to two national titles (2021, ’22), four Big West Championship titles (2019, ’22, ’23, ’25), two Big West regular season titles (2021, ’23), and seven NCAA Tournament appearances (2015, ’17, ’19, ’21, ’22, ’23, ’25).
 
UH (26-5) finished runner-up in the regular season this season but captured the tournament title with wins over UC Irvine in the semifinal and regular season champion Long Beach State in the finals. The Warriors were selected the No. 2 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio and will meet either Daemen or Penn State in the quarterfinal round.
 
Hawai’i’s win over UC Irvine last Friday was Wade’s 317^th career victory which pushed him past Mike Wilton as the program’s all-time winningest coach. Wade is the fifth winningest active coach in NCAA Division I-II and is among a select group of 22 coaches all-time to surpass 300 career victories.
 
Long Beach State freshman setter Moni Nikolov received both the Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards.
 
Big West Award Winners
Player of the Year – Moni Nikolov, Long Beach State
Freshman of the Year – Moni Nikolov, Long Beach State
Coach of the Year – Charlie Wade, Hawai’i

#HawaiiMVB