Valerie Nainima

Biography

Valerie Nainima will embark on her third season at Providence College as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Erin Batth's program. Prior to her arrival at Providence, Nainima spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at Michigan and shared the sidelines with Batth in Ann Arbor during the 2022-23 campaign. During her two seasons with the Wolverines, Nainima was responsible for coaching the point guards. Michigan qualified for the NCAA Tournament during each of her two seasons, advancing to the Elite Eight in 2021-22 and finishing with a 25-7 overall record. In 2022-23, she and Batth helped guide the Maize and Blue to a 23-10 overall record (11-7 Big Ten) and was ranked in the national polls for 19-consecutive weeks. Michigan was ranked as high as No. 12 during the 2022-23 campaign and checked in at No. 18 in the final poll heading into the NCAA Tournament. Michigan advanced to the Second Round, before falling to ninth-ranked and No. 3 seed LSU, 66-42, on March 19. Nainima worked closely with AP All-America Honorable Mention selection and All-Big Ten honoree Leigha Brown. Brown averaged 17.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists per game. In 2022-23, Brown dished 174 assists marking the third-highest single-season total in Michigan women’s basketball history – and just four assists shy of the record. Nainima spent a total of seven seasons at Fordham, beginning as the program’s video coordinator (2014-17) and serving as an assistant for her final four seasons in t