Coaching the UC-Irvine Women’s Basketball Team, Playing D1 Hoops at Long Beach State, and a Storied Basketball Journey with Tamara Inoue

In this episode, host Justin Hong interviews UC-Irvine head women’s basketball coach Tamara Inoue on her basketball journey as a player and coach.

During the episode, Coach Inoue talks about growing up in Hawaii and how she got her start playing basketball (3:10) as well as her high school career at Laguna Hills High School in California, including winning a state championship (5:16).

She also shares about starting her college career at Cal before transferring to Long Beach State (9:27), her career at Long Beach State (11:19), and her experience as an Asian American athlete (12:31).

She gives us an inside look at her playing and coaching career in Australia (14:28), her transition into coaching (16:02), and her college coaching experiences - first, at Santa Clara, then moving on to New Mexico State, and eventually landing the head coaching opportunity at UC-Irvine (20:14).

She also shares memorable moments from her coaching career at UC-Irvine (28:39), the experience of taking her team to Japan one summer (31:03), what it means to her to be an Asian American college basketball coach (33:46), advice for Asian American basketball players (36:08) and Asian Americans looking to pursue careers in coaching (39:22), and much more.

Coach Tamara Inoue - UC-Irvine Profile Page

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