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Hilo-native Reed Sunahara has been named the new head coach of the UH Hilo Vulcans Women’s Volleyball program.

“We are thrilled to welcome Reed Sunahara to our university ‘ohana,” Director of Athletics Patrick Guillen said in a press release.”We are fortunate to have someone of his caliber and pedigree as part of our team. The fact that he is a local boy from Hilo is just icing on the cake.”

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Sunahara returns to the Big Island and collegiate volleyball after serving nine seasons as head coach at Division-I West Virginia University (2015-2023), where he helped lead the Mountaineers to their first-ever NCAA postseason appearance in 2021.

Prior to that, he was head coach at the State University of New York at Buffalo (2014), University of Cincinnati (2000-2011) and University of Toledo (1995-1996).

Most notably, during his time at Cincinnati, the Bearcats went 289-109 (.726) with eight NCAA postseason appearances and six conference championships (2000, 2001, 2003 Conference USA regular season; 2008, 2010 BIG EAST regular season; 2011 BIG EAST Tournament) while garnering conference Coach of the Year accolades in 2001, 2008 and 2010.

Overall, he has compiled 431 career wins.

“First of all, I want to thank Chancellor Bonnie Irwin, Melanie Brokaw, Kula Oda and Paul Regrutto for their time and getting me on board,” Sunahara said in the press release. “Hilo’s always been home to me, and it’s great to be back. I’m excited about this program and the future. I think we can do great things. It’s my hometown. I grew up here. I have a lot of family and friends that are here so I’m excited to start.”

A 1981 graduate of Hilo High School, where he was a three-sport star in baseball, basketball and volleyball, Sunahara was heavily recruited by then-Vulcans Basketball coach Jimmy Yagi but ultimately chose to pursue volleyball at UCLA, where he became a three-time NCAA Champion and two-time All-American — playing alongside Olympians Ricci Luyties, Doug Partie, Dave Saunders and AVP legend and current U.S. Olympic Team coach Karch Kiraly.

Sunahara most recently served as an assistant coach with the Vegas Thrill during the Pro Volleyball Federation’s inaugural season in 2024.

He also has had coaching stints with USA Volleyball (2012) and the United States Women’s National Team (2013-2014) as an assistant.

Sunahara began his coaching career assisting the UCLA Men’s Volleyball program where they captured three more national titles in 1987, 1989 and 1993.

In 2018, he was inducted into the Big Island Sports Hall of Fame.

Sunahara has three children with his wife, Laura. His oldest son, Rex, plays for the Cleveland Browns, and younger son RJ is a men’s basketball assistant coach at Nova Southeastern, where he played and was named NABC Division II Player of the Year in 2022-23.

Sunahara replaces Chris Leonard, who was named Vulcans interim head coach in 2019 before earning the permanent role heading into the 2020 season.