‘Eaters hire Inoue as women’s basketball coach

Tamara Inoue’s journey back to Southern California and realizing her ultimate career goal has been 14 years long and included an extended stop in Australia. But, beginning with her tenure as a state champion point guard at Laguna Hills High, each mile along the pathway to becoming UC Irvine’s women’s basketball coach has helped Inoue construct a proven road map to success.

Success has been in short supply for the Anteaters, whose lone Big West Conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance came when the 37-year-old Inoue was in the middle of her glorious prep career.

But Inoue, named Monday to assume the vacant head coaching position left by Doug Oliver’s retirement following a 4-22 campaign that included a 1-17 finish, brings enthusiasm, optimism, valuable experience and a propensity for winning back to her Orange County roots.

“The thing that was really enticing and why I was really interested in this job was not the fact that I’d be coming home,” said Inoue, who has a five-year contract, “but more about the ability to win a championship. I know [UCI] has struggled. But I think the turnaround can be quick. I don’t know how quick. We did it in three years at New Mexico State and it was tough. One thing I learned under [New Mexico State head coach] Mark Trakh is that you have to be patient and picky [with recruiting].”

Inoue spent five seasons on Trakh’s staff with the Aggies, the last two as associate head coach. Both of the last two years, the former Big West Conference school won Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles. The 2014-15 squad went 22-10 and ended the program’s 26-year absence from the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Aggies complied a 26-5 record that included 15 straight victories.

Inoue spent three seasons as an assistant at Santa Clara, after coaching five seasons in Australia, where she played for one year before injuries ended her playing career that included collegiate stops at Cal and Long Beach State.

She was the Victoria Basketball League Coach of the Year in 2006-07 while guiding the Nunawading Spectres. The following season, she guided the Knox Raiders to a national championship and a 27-1 record.

As a player, Inoue was the starting point guard on Laguna Hills’ CIF State Division II championship team in 1996-97, pairing with future three-time indoor volleyball Olympian Tayyiba Haneef. Inoue was twice the Pacific Coast League MVP and a multiple All-CIF Southern Section honoree.

After one season at Cal, she played three seasons in the Big West with Long Beach State, for which she led the conference in assists as a senior (5.9) and was second as a junior (4.6). She twice earned honorable mention in all-conference voting.

Inoue, who earned a degree in criminal justice from Long Beach in 2002, said she always aspired to be a collegiate head coach.

“I’ve interviewed for jobs the last three years to kind of have that experience, but I was never interested in taking those jobs, because I didn’t believe I was ready,” Inoue said. “The things I’ve gone through and things that [Trakh] has taught me have been invaluable.

“I really think I’ve been mentored tremendously well,” she said. “Mark Trakh [who built a dynasty at Brea Olinda High before coaching collegiately at Pepperdine, USC and New Mexico State] has been unbelievably instrumental in what I am today. He really allowed me to do more things than maybe a lot of head coaches would have been willing to do. I was able to run practices, do scouting and even do media day, because he knew my goal was to be a head coach.”

Inoue inherits a roster with 11 returners who do not include last year’s top two scorers, Mokun Fajemisin and Raelyn Cheung-Sutton.

Shereen Sutherland, who averaged 7.8 points and five rebounds per game as a 6-foot-2 junior forward, and Mckenzie Piper (7.0 ppg as a 6-0 junior forward) both started more than 20 games last season. In addition, Andrea Ritter, who played 10 games and started seven, was named to the conference’s all-freshman team after averaging six points and 2.3 rebounds.

“Everyone has scholarships and I’m not kicking anyone off the team,” Inoue said. “I have talked to people about the personnel here, but I haven’t watched any tape, because I think everyone deserves a fresh start. They are all here to play and my expectations are for them to have to work hard. That’s what I’m here for.”

Inoue also said some scholarships are available and that she and her staff would hope to bring in as many as four new players.

That staff is already half full, as Inoue will bring former New Mexico State player and assistant coach Cecilia Russell-Nava with her.

Amanda Delgado, a former player at Oregon who was director of operations last season in Las Cruces, will hold the same position at UCI, Inoue said.

Inoue said she will move quickly to fill the two remaining assistant-coaching positions and that former UCI players and assistants Annie Garrett and Lauren Bowie will be among those considered.

Inoue said she favors the guard-oriented dribble-drive offense and said her defensive schemes would reflect her players’ abilities.

“Tamara has a great presence and is highly motivated,” UCI Athletic Director Mike Izzi said in a statement. “... She is a tireless recruiter and has a clear vision for our women’s basketball program.”

Inoue, who held practice for the first time with her players on Wednesday, said her immediate expectation is to create a winning culture that includes “being a good teammate and really working with one another.

“Once we figure that out, then we’ll be strategic about how we’re going to win games.”