After 15 seasons at the helm, Hawaii Pacific University men’s basketball coach Darren Vorderbruegge is stepping down.
Vorderbruegge went 164-178 during his years with the Sharks, highlighted by a trip to the NCAA Division II West Region semifinals in 2017.
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Associate head coach Jesse Nakanishi will take over while the team searches for its new head coach, according to HPU. Nakanishi was Hawaii’s director of basketball operations from 2018 to 2021, a position he also held at Seattle during the 2017-2018 season. Prior to that, he had his first stint as HPU’s associate head coach from 2013 to 2017 and was Kamehameha’s boys head coach from 2003 to 2011.
Vorderbruegge plans to step away from both HPU and the game of basketball.
“I am leaving Hawaii Pacific University and basketball for an exciting new journey. I have so many good memories of HPU and the staff and athletes I have been blessed to work with,” Vorderbruegge said in a statement. “I am certain that under the leadership of (HPU athletics director) Dr. (Debbie) Snell, the athletic department is poised to thrive. And for Sharks basketball – I am confident that associate head coach Jesse Nakanishi can lead the team to success.”
Vorderbruegge also served as HPU’s athletics director from 2006 to 2014. After the 2017 season, he was named the Clarence Gaines National Coach of the Year after the Sharks finished 29-3. The Sharks went 10-18 in 2022-2023.
